Child of Destiny

...

"If you continue with this pace, then we will be in deep trouble sooner or later."

If someone else heard what Uno just said, then they might lose their minds as Shin was already advancing at insane speed.

Benedict and David, who were very familiar with Shin's monstrous progress might even beat Uno up when they heard those words.

But for Shin, he suddenly felt an intense sense of urgency. It was as if he had to hurry and reach the peak of the Grandmaster Realm and polish this fighting style that he had created as soon as possible.

He felt something terrible would happen if he failed to meet Uno's expectations.

Thinking about this, Shin was suddenly reminded of his current 'disease,' the 'Seed of Hatred.'

When he thought about this, he immediately remembered that aside from Uno balancing his Sacred Qi and Demonic Qi within him, the latter seemed to be suppressing something within him during their last meeting inside his Sea of Consciousness.

"Is the final seed already getting out of control?" mumbled Shin as he thought about it.

As if responding to his thoughts, his body suddenly shivered while the sense of urgency that he was feeling became much heavier.

But before he could dwell too deeply on this problem, a series of notifications suddenly bombarded his ears.

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You have successfully passed the final trial!

System: Congratulations! You have successfully cleared your Tier 3 Promotion Quest!

*Ding*

System: Accepting the Plane's Blessing!

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! Your class has been promoted to Tier 3!

System: Please head over to the Church of your respective Religion to receive the corresponding blessings for your race.

…

A pillar of light suddenly descended from the sky and enveloped Shin while he was reading the notifications. He was in full alert at first due to its sudden appearance, but he quickly calmed down when he realized what it was for.

This pillar of light was granting him new strength and power. He could feel that his in-game avatar was gradually improving at an insane rate.

Taking a look at his profile, he saw that his stats were rapidly increasing while his Battle Physique was growing stronger.

When the pillar finally exhausted its powers and disappeared, Shin turned to the upper portion of his character profile and saw the changes in his class. The name 'Grim Reaper' did not change but it had become a golden text with a black and white aura surrounding it.

A single look at it was more than enough for Shin to realize how imposing and domineering his class currently was.

He was about to explore more about the changes that he had when another barrage of notifications rang in his ears.

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You are the first player to clear their Tier 3 Promotion Quest! You will be receiving a special reward!

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You have received a Martial Manual – The Lost Art of the Kings!

*Ding*

System: For being the first person to reach the Tier 3 Class, you have the right to meet the strongest Mysterious Instructor within the Aurora Continent!

System: Head over to the depths of Saint Heaven Mountain and meet the Head of the Mysterious Instructors staying within the continent and receive his test to see your 'Potential.'

…

Reading the next batch of notifications, Shin had gotten a rough idea of what was going on. "So, it turns out that the Mysterious Instructors are waiting for us to complete our Tier 3 Quest before testing our 'Potential' Stat?"

He was mumbling to himself when he suddenly shook his head. "No, that is not right. From what I can see, these Mysterious Instructors are meant to teach the players about the secret methods that fit their respective styles."

"It is one of the hidden requirements to clear these stupidly hard Promotion Quests."

"This Head of the Mysterious Instructors may be serving a different purpose. After all, I happen to 'skip' this hidden requirement and clear the quest without testing my 'Potential'."

The more he thought about it, the more convinced he became about his suspicion.

"I should inform the others about this and let them look for the Mysterious Instructor that fits their respective styles."

He was reminded of Akailu, who said to him that the 'Reality Manifestation' was not for his playing style.

After organizing his thoughts, he finally remembered what just happened and turned behind him.

He then saw that Lucy's body, which was supposedly beheaded by Uno earlier, was already in the middle of turning into a golden smoke. It was a smoke made of pure mana.

Shin was thinking about something when the golden smoke suddenly rushed toward his body and fused with him. When it was done, Shin immediately noticed the changes within his body. his Battle Physique had improved for another time while his mana had taken huge changes.

But what made him frown deeply was the sudden increase of the Power of the Brilliant Sun and Abyssal Moon within his body.

He was not sure if he could control such an abundant mana within him. But before he could even complain about it, he suddenly felt that the [Yamato] on his hands and the [Death's Shadow] cloak wrapped around him had absorbed excess mana that his body failed to digest.

Tick!

While his thoughts were lost in the feeling that he had, he suddenly heard the soft sound of an object falling on the ground.

Turning his gaze toward the source of the sound, he saw a necklace bouncing up and down in front of him.

He bent down and picked it up. Looking closely at it, he saw it as a necklace with golden chains its cord with a crystalline pendant resembling the unification of the sun and moon.

The pendant reminded Shin of the floating runic emblem behind Lucy and the mark of eclipse at the back of his hand.

When he came in contact with this necklace, another notification was sent to him.

*Ding*

System: You have found one of the inheritances of the Nephilim Race, the 'Proof of Eclipse'!

*Ding*

System: Your 'Dissonant Wish' is responding to the call of the 'Proof of Eclipse'! Do you want to merge them?

Seeing the notification, Shin could not help but turn to the necklace that he was currently wearing. It was the item that he had gotten during the earlier stages of the game. He could still remember Lawless cursing him for having such a stroke of good luck for getting such an item just by casually browsing in the Market.

Even though this item could grow alongside him, he felt that its effects were no longer as effective as before. The passive increase in his swordsmanship and assassination techniques was still good, but he found it a little lacking due to his current level and realm inside the game.

Turning at the necklace on his hand, he could not help but feel that this item would bring him more benefit in the future.

Moreover, this item was dropped from a powerful NPC Monster such as Lucy, who had at least three different titles. Even though it was just a clone, it was still clear how powerful this NPC Monster was in his real form.

Given that, the item that he would drop would be something good.

Not thinking too much about it, Shin hit the 'Yes' button in front of him.

Swoosh!

Following his actions, the 'Dissonant Wish' necklace that he had was unequipped automatically before appearing right beside the 'Proof of Eclipse'.

The two necklaces floated in front of him and revolved around each other before slowly merging.

They released a blinding light, making Shin squint his eyes as he was in the merging process.

Not long after, the fusion of the two necklaces was finally completed revealing itself to Shin. There seemed to be no noticeable changes on it as he still saw the same skill appearance that the 'Proof of Eclipse' had earlier.

Aside from the much more noticeable aura that it had compared to how he saw it earlier.

Without further ado, Shin quickly equipped it while curiously looking at its details.

-------------------

[Item Name]: Proof of Eclipse

Classification: Dissonant Wish/ Inheritance

[Item Type]: Accessory (Necklace)

[Item Rank]: Obsidian (Growth Type)

Stats:

+20% to all stats

+50% increase in swordsmanship proficiency

+50% increase in assassination proficiency

+50% increase in magic proficiency

+100% Magical and Elemental Affinity

+50% Mana and Elemental Control

+50% Elemental Resistance (Fire, Light, Ice, Darkness)

+50% Attack Speed

+50% Movement Speed

Skills: (Sealed)

This item was bound to player 'Sickarius'

-----------------------

Shin's mind went blank at first as the stats were way over the top. This was without a doubt a top-class item, and it fitted his current style.

What confused him a little was the skills that were attached to this item seemed to have been sealed.

And the more troublesome part of it was the fact that there was no clue on how to unlock them, nor how he would be able to improve it in the future.

"It seems like another problem that I have to keep an eye on," based on the items that he had received recently, it seemed like most of the items that the top players would get were related to their respective religions and special races.

He could also guess that most of the high-quality items would be bound to the players, especially the most important ones like Sacred Relics, Inheritance Items, and Dissonant Wishes.

Right at this moment, Shin had three of them, the [Yamato], the [Death's Shadow], and this recently acquired [Proof of Eclipse].

If he continued following the path that the system was giving him, the 'Living Armor' that he would receive from Berlin would most likely be another piece of equipment with similar properties and levels of importance.

After taking his eyes off the information panel for the newly acquired accessory, Shin turned his head toward another reward he had gotten – the Martial Manual.

"Another Martial Manual, huh?" he mumbled as he took out a black book from his inventory and looked at it.

"The Lost Art of the Kings," he read the title of the manual before skimming through it. But after reading a few of its chapters, he could not help but frown deeply. "It sounds like a pretty good art. It can be the same level as the most advanced Martial Arts and Mentalism Methods from the real world."

"It contains a variety of Arts from different powerful Heroes and legendary Kings recorded in the lore of the game. This is a perfect manual for top players, who did not have a good background in the real world."

"It may be a single used item. Once the person has chosen the art that they wanted, they can no longer change their choice. But whichever art they choose, it will be a top-class one."

"Too bad, I already have powerful Martial Arts and Mentalism Methods from the real world. I have also created a perfect style for my Mentalism, so I will not need this one," he mumbled as he thought. "Should I give it to others?"

Thinking about the members of their Adventurer Team, he tried to look for the one who might need this manual. "From what I can see, the ones who don't have any Martial or Mentalism background in the real world are Archimedes, Daulla, and Akailu. The rest seemed to have a very solid background."

"Alright, I will consult the others about it and see if they also have gotten any Martial Manual that will fit the fighting style of those three, so I can decide who to give this."

While thinking about this, he could not help but remember about Diablo. "Now that I think about it. I also have the 'Shadowless Art' and 'Soundless Assassination'. Should I give it a try and lure that guy over to our side?"

"I should try talking to him later," he mumbled before planning to log out. He was pretty much exhausted already, so he needed to rest before proceeding to the next part of his plans.

But before he could even press the logout button, he suddenly paused as he looked at the new notifications that he had gotten.

It was not an ordinary system notification, but a worldwide announcement.

"What the heck?! Why do they have to do this to me!?"

...