Child of Destiny

...

Right after Shin logged back into the game, he quickly opened the Currency Exchange System and looked at the current exchange rate of gold to real money.

When he first started playing the game, the exchange rate was at the ratio of 1:100 – from gold to Federal Coins. But after seeing that it was now 1:10, he was a little disappointed as it clearly showed that the rate had dropped greatly since then.

However, it was constantly at this rate since it dropped to this point, which meant that it would never drop or increase in the future.

Shin thought for a moment before sending a message to Shiella, telling her to inform him if she finalized everything. He would then send all the funds needed for the construction of the new city and the relocation of Calderock Town.

He honestly did not expect that the negotiations would go as smoothly as this. He even prepared a lot of cards to play, expecting that Shiella would point out a lot of flaws in the plan.

He was also expecting her to ask for more shares since that was how she was supposed to be. But she had proven him wrong as she did not pursue the issue again after he refused her twice earlier. Instead, she focused on reading through the proposition that he had given her.

He was not sure why, but he felt that Shiella might have found something in his plan. It might be the reason why she agreed with the deal straight away.

Regardless, everything worked out smoothly, so he did not have to worry too much about it. He could leave everything to Shiella and wait for her reply before moving to the next part of the plan.

For now, he needed to finish everything on his side before heading back to the First Continent and deal with the things that needed to be done, particularly that dimensional key that he needed to enter the Rebirthing Place of his Elemental Spirits.

…

Shin spent the next couple of days (in-game time) exploring the entirety of the Phantom Island and discovered a few more strange regions with special phenomena. He also finally found a way to 'trigger' the special encounters with the Spiritual Beings.

He did not gain much clue from Hanzo and the rest as they were somewhat quiet the entire time. They were only talking to him during idle chatters and did not disclose any important information that he could use.

But during his exploration, the words that Solus had casually mentioned to him seemed to have given Shin an idea.

She said something about the Ancient Beings that were already living in the lower plane before the gods and goddess from above spread their influence.

Shin felt that he had triggered a special condition when conversing with her, leading to her giving him this crucial clue.

Shin did not immediately learn the truth from that and instead contacted some of his friends, who were not busy to help him look for the information in the royal library. Since he could not leave the Phantom Island for the time being, he could only ask them for this favor.

Everyone was busy, so it was hard to look for someone, who was free to help him. More importantly, some that he could trust.

He tried to look in the online forums or official websites of the game, but he could not find the most accurate information that he was looking for. But he learned that the royal and imperial libraries from capital cities and above would most likely have the information that he needed.

After asking around, the only person who responded to Shin was Molton. He had already added this guy before, though they did not contact each other often in the game since they had matters that they needed to deal with.

He only remembered Molton when he was browsing the online forums. He remembered that he used to read the reviews and tutorials that Molton had when he was starting the game.

Fortunately, Molton was a regular visitor of libraries. He loved reading the history of the game. He liked the feeling of having discovered something new every time he read the historical books and ancient records.

He even spent all the reputation points that he had earned during his quests and special missions to increase his right to enter the libraries and their secret rooms. At the moment, he was already a Grand Scholar, who could enter and exit the royal libraries without concern.

He could also enter some secret facilities and rooms that normal people were forbidden from entering.

After hearing the problem that Shin was facing, Molton agreed to his request without second thoughts. He was also quite interested in the topic that Shin had mentioned, particularly the Phantom Island and the Ancient Beings.

This was something new, so Molton was quite excited about it.

Since the records about the ancient era were collectively recorded in all royal and imperial libraries, the records should be relatively similar to one another. That excluded the 'smaller' historical events for certain kingdoms that were recorded locally.

Shin was only looking for the major knowledge, so Molton would not find it hard when looking for the relative information.

Shin decided to mediate at the center of the black iron desert and practice his swordsmanship at the peak of the frozen mountain while waiting for Molton.

He did not wait that long as he immediately received a detailed explanation from Molton. Not only did the latter call him and explain everything, but Shin also received a detailed summary of everything through mail.

Shin could not help but smile bitterly when he saw how dedicated Molton in this. The latter even enthusiastically told him that if ever needed his help regarding similar matters, he was free to call him anytime.

Despite hearing everything from Molton, Shin still read the summary to make sure that he had not missed anything.

The first information that he read was about Spiritual Beings.

According to the historical records, these beings were one of the oldest beings along with the Dragons, Qilins, Pheonix, Giants, Primordial Beasts, Immortals, and other mythical and legendary races.

Spiritual Beings were said to have a strong connection with nature and all kinds of elements, giving them absolute governance over them.

Their magical powers were comparable to Ancient Dragons while their physical combat prowess was on the same level as Immortals and Asuras.

Their race was divided into two, the Spirit Knights and Spirit Sages. The former focused on physical enhancements and combat techniques while the latter majored in magical knowledge and mage arts.

After the Primordial War, the Spiritual Beings have never been found again due to some unknown reason. There were a lot of rumors about their disappearance, but none were proven right.

Then during the new era, their descendants started to appear one after another, which were the Elementals, Spirituals, Eternals, Dryads, and Nightmares.

These new races were born from the Ancient Spiritual Beings, possessing the different traits and abilities of their ancestors.

After reading through this, Shin finally realized what kind of creatures were those Spiritual Beings that he had seen previously.

It turned out that the temporary name that he had called them was true.

Based on the names and the titles that he had seen from them, it seemed like the Spiritual Beings that he had encountered were among the highest rank officials of their race.

Then the second question suddenly entered his mind – "Then why were these powerful beings here? Or why did they have recorded history here in the Phantom Island." –

This was when Shin read through the information about Phantom Island.

Based on the records that Molton had read, the Phantom Island had many names such as the Land of the Dead, the Land of the Forgotten History, the Forbidden Land of the End, the Disappearing Island, and such.

These names were given by different cultures or religions while the records about them were written by some well-known explorers or paladin knights, who were on expeditions.

A lot of people had already set foot on this mysterious island, but all of them only arrived there due to some accident. Some were swept away by the tides after their ships sunk in the sea while the others accidentally docked on the island after being lost in the fog.

And they only told the tale about it after they did their best to return.

There were a lot of versions of stories about Phantom Island, so there was no accurate information about it.

But there was a certain expert explorer, who managed to uncover some of the truths about this island. It was said that the island was one of the shattered lands that was separated from the mainland when the Primordial War occurred.

No one believed him at first due to how ridiculous his claim was, but after presenting some evidence, no one dared to laugh at him or refute his words.

As for the mystery of why, there were a lot of versions of the Phantom Island, the explorer said that it was because of the 'heart' of the people.

The island was reflecting the thoughts and desires of whoever stepped on its land. It also answered the questions of anyone, who asked for it.

Because people possessed different desires and looking for different answers, they were seeing different responses from the island.

Naturally, there was another wave of refusal when the people heard his explanation, but they quickly shut their mouths when there was a group of Transcendent Beings, who proved his point.

Transcendent Beings represent the heroes and peaks of this world, so no one would dare to question their words.

Moreover, one of the Transcendent Beings, who supported the claim of the famous explorer was 'Supremo' the founder of the 'Supreme Temple' and one of the heroes, who led the victory of the Atlas World against the invading Demons during the Repelling Era.

All the evidence and other recorded information about the Phantom Island was stored in the main branch of the 'Supreme Temple' at the Divine Empire.

Molton said that if Shin wanted to know more about the mystery behind the Phantom Island, he had to visit the 'Supreme Temple' and try his luck there.

Even if the information that he had gotten was somewhat limited, Shin still felt that he had gotten what he wanted already.

The key to his problem was the 'questions' and 'desires'.

When he focused on this point, he was able to see the encounters with Spiritual Beings once again in every special region that he had visited.

Even though the Spiritual Beings that he encountered were the same as the previous ones, the opponents that he was facing were completely different.

Shin had revisited all the strange regions within the Phantom Island and watched every battle between the Spiritual Beings and Primordial Monsters in full attentiveness. He did not dare to miss a single detail in every encounter as he gained different insights whenever he watched them.

During the entire process, he was actively using the secondary effects of the 'Duplicator's Eyes'. This Legacy Skill was special and mysterious, making Shin curious about how powerful the original creator was.

The main usage of this skill was copying other skills. And he could even copy anything as long as he met certain conditions, particularly the required 'Spirit' and 'Wisdom' Stats.

Of course, he could not just comply with anything as there were some limitations in it. He could also not endlessly use it since it had a very long cooldown before he could use it again.

There was also a limit on the number of skills that he could copy, so he could not senselessly use the skill whenever he wanted.

But that was for the main effects of the skill.

Fortunately, its secondary effects were not limited. Its 'learning' ability could be constantly used as long as he wanted to 'learn' something.

He would not be copying a skill for the secondary effect. It only enhanced his ocular skills and learning ability to pear through the secrets of certain skills or techniques.

Just like what happened when he was trying to learn blacksmithing and when he had created the 'Solar Breathing Technique'.

He was not copying anything but learning the secrets of certain tricks that could be beneficial.

As for why 'Regan's Method' Legacy Skill had evolved, the answer was immediately given to him after he had visited all the special regions filled with strange phenomena.

When he was done exploring the entirety of the Phantom Island, the 'Regan's Method' Legacy Skill and already transformed into something completely different.

Or to be more precise, it had revealed its true form after Shin had absorbed all the insight from the battles between the Spiritual Beings and the Primordial Monsters.

Even though he and to spend all his Legacy Points that he had saved up until now to keep up with the evolution of the skill, he felt that it was quite worth it.

The skill had become something that was not only better than the previous form that it had but also fitted his current style.

But what surprised Shin greatly was the notification that he had gotten in the end after the Legacy Skill had evolved.

*Ding*

He laughed at himself as he found it rather silly. "It turned out that I have already found what I am looking for, but refused to acknowledge it."

"To think that it is right in front of me, yet I never have recognized it. I feel like an idiot," he smiled at himself mockingly as he read the system notification.

System: Congratulations! You have found Regan's Secret Laboratory!

...