Child of Destiny

...…

Shin followed behind Old Man Lin with a confused look on his face. He was not sure what the old man wanted to discuss with him, but he could at least guess what it was given the current situation.

After walking away from the rest of the class, Old Man Lin felt that they were far enough before turning around. He then looked at Shin and said. "I heard that you will not be joining this special mission."

Shin had somewhat expected it, so he was not that surprised. He then nodded his head as he responded. "That is right, Senior. My master and Professor Henry have already made some arrangements for me."

Old Man Lin smirked when he heard those words. "You don't have to hide too much, kiddo. I have already heard it from your master, so I have a rough idea of what is happening."

"That Old Monster has done any he can to hide it but given the pieces of information that I have on hand, it is pretty easy to guess what they are planning."

He then squinted his eyes and stared at Shin with a gaze that seemed to be able to peer through any secrets before continuing. "I have already seen some of it before, but I don't expect the seriousness of the situation up until this point."

Old Man Lin closed his right hand and placed its side in front of his mouth before clearing his throat. "Since I owe your master a favor, I will help you a little with your current problem."

Shin was still in the middle of processing the meaning of those words when the old man suddenly extended his left index finger and pointed at the center of Shin's brows.

Swoosh!

A flow of energy suddenly came out from the old man and entered Shin's head.

Shin could not respond to it due to how fast it was. He could only brace himself while waiting for the old man to finish.

He could not move during the entire process, but he could feel that the energy coming from Old Man Lin was flowing gently through his meridians and cleansing them in the process. He also felt that his entire body was getting lighter and full of strength as time went by.

Whoosh!

There was also a black miasma coming out from the pores of his body, making Shin feel relieved. It was as if all the burdens that he was carrying were suddenly lifted altogether. These impurities that had accumulated for quite a long time were quickly erased and ejected from his body.

At the same time, Shin also felt that the flowing energy suddenly moved toward his dantian before forming a spherical barrier around it.

Bang!

Shin felt that he heard a heavy metal door being closed when that mysterious energy from Old Man Lin completely closed off the energy within his dantian.

It was at that moment when the old man retracted his finger and explained. "There is some leakage of Demonic Qi from your dantian, and it was slowly accumulating some damage within your body. It was also gathering quite a lot of impurities over time."

"It may not be able to affect you right now, but it would seriously affect you in the future if you left them unattended."

"I guess Henry can't seal it off completely due to the nature of his energy," he added briefly before continuing. "But it will be fine now."

"You don't have to worry about someone sensing the leaking Demonic Qi from your body for the time being since this seal that I have set up will be more than enough."

He then paused and looked at Shin seriously. "If you want to completely control these powers that you have, then you must work very hard."

Hearing those words, Shin could already guess that there was something going on within his body. If he added the strange behavior that Uno had and the words that his alter ego had told him earlier, then he could already guess that the 'Seed of Hatred' within him was slowly getting out of control.

Old Man Lin looked at Shin deeply before continuing. "I am not sure how you are able to hold on up until now. I also don't know what that Old Monster, Plum, is planning. But I can at least tell you that your time is slowly running short."

"You have to become stronger as soon as possible to make sure that you will not get out of control. Because once you do, no one will be able to save you aside from yourself."

Hearing that, Shin nodded his head heavily, signifying that he fully understood.

Seeing that, Old Man Lin finally nodded his head in satisfaction before continuing. "Since that is the case, you can't afford to miss this opportunity to gain practical experience."

"Even though you have quite a lot of it already, you will not be losing anything if gain more. You may even benefit from it instead."

He then paused before shaking his head and added. "But since there are some unexpected 'visitors' this time, we can't risk you going there."

"Instead, I will be arranging another mission as your main training instructor," trailing his words for a moment, Old Man Lin continued. "I have already informed Henry of this, so there will be no conflict with his arrangements either."

"This will be a special assignment solely for you since you will not be joining the rest of the class in exploring the tomb of the ancient cultivator."

"This assignment just comes in perfectly since it is about time to test your real capabilities as the rank one student from the special program."

"This is supposedly a monthly exam for the top ranker of the class, but since we have the perfect opportunity on our hands, why not bring the time forward?"

Shin was slightly confused at first, but he still nodded his head regardless and continued to listen.

"I will email you the details of the assignment within two days. I still have to organize it since I am too busy dealing with those old fools from the board."

"You have a whole week to prepare like the class, so make sure to be prepared when the time comes," after that, Old Man Lin turned around and left while signaling Cloe to follow him.

Shin stared at the back of the Old Man for a couple of moments before looking at the clock. It was still too early, so he had plenty of time on his hands.

He then turned to the side and saw the group walking toward him aside from Cloe, who was called by Old Man Lin.

"What is it about?" asked Arthur curiously.

Shin shook his head. "There is nothing too serious about. It is just a special assignment from the academy since I will not be joining the rest of the class for the exploration."

"A separate assignment? Sounds interesting! What kind of mission is it?" asked Arthur again.

Shin shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know yet. The materials will be given to me within the next two days."

"Tsk! Boring," mumbled Arthur before quickly changing the topic. "Alright! Since we still have plenty of time before our usual dismissal time, how about we hang out a little?"

"We can also spar if you want! It has been a while since we exchanged some martial insights!" he added with an excited tone. It was pretty much clear that he was too eager to blow up some accumulated frustrations from the news about the game.

Leonard chuckled and suggested. "But I want to go back now since I want to finish my promotion quest as soon as possible. Now that Shin Bro is freed from his matters, he can head over to the Sacred Light Kingdom and switch places with us."

Shin thought about it for a moment before nodding his head. "That is right. I can also test how strong a Tier 3 can be. This is a perfect time to do it."

Arthur clicked his tongue when he heard but did not refute. He knew that what they said was quite reasonable.

Lorraine, who had been looking at her advanced watch up until now, suddenly raised her head. "Then you brutes can do your thing. I want to go shopping a little!"

After that, she hooked her arms with Alice, who was standing silently beside her and asked. "Do you want to come with me? I see quite a few newly released designer bags just now!"

Alice hesitated for a moment before nodding her head and letting herself get dragged away by Lorraine.

As if the two of them were not enough, Lorraine also dragged Jillian with them, telling the latter it was a good time to get familiar with each other.

"Then I will be heading back too. I still want to do some experiments within the game," said Molton, bidding farewell to the trio.

Shin thought for a moment before turning to the two. "You two can go back first. I want to drop by the Research Department first. I want to ask some advice from my senior regarding my future training."

"I just made a crucial breakthrough with my mentalism swordsmanship inside the game, so I want to see if it is possible to apply it in the real world with my current realm."

Arthur shook his head repeatedly before turning around. He then kept on mumbling some incomprehensible words to himself.

Leonard and Shin exchanged glances with each other before shrugging their shoulders.

After that, they said goodbye to each other before moving to their respective destination.

**********

Somewhere within the campus, Wade Paige was currently taking a stroll to relax.

He had been staying in the Magical Ace Academy for a few days already and he had made quite some progress with everything.

His previous sicky complexion and weak body were already getting better. He was still far from being healthy-looking since it was just a few days since he underwent the special diet and exercise plan that Professor Henry prepared for him. But he felt that he was getting better as time passed.

He also could feel that he could summon an incomparable strength than before. He might still be far from performing some martial arts moves, but he could at least exert some strength that was way above the average person despite his current physique.

He was currently staying at the housing quarters especially prepared for the personnel of the World Research Center and receiving decent treatment that was no different from those researchers and assistants.

He knew that this was a special treatment since he was under the head of the research center. But he had no reason to refuse it since this was the very reason why he was here.

He was also cooperating with the research and tests that they were conducting in exchange for his stay, so there was no need to feel too guilty about it.

He was also given a special ID card that would let him explore some public places within the academy.

He felt a little suffocated inside the research laboratories, so he stepped out a little to breathe some fresh air. The smell of chemicals and solutions inside was making him a little dizzy, so he felt like going outside for the time being.

He was already done with today's tests anyway, so he was free to do whatever he wanted until tomorrow. He could at least explore the academy for the time being.

He had heard about this school even from the Sun-Moon Continent. He knew that this school was one of the most famous schools around the world. It was also one of the best when it came to producing world-class talents and elites, so he was quite curious about it.

He wanted to feel the atmosphere of one of the best world-class schools and see their students' quality.

It was at that moment when he bumped into someone.

Someone that he did not expect to see here.

"Ah! You-…! You-…! What are you doing here!?"

 "Eh!? Ah! You are that guy! You are a student at this school!?"

...