Child of Destiny

...…

Looking at the giant centipede coiled around the energy core above them, Shin could not help but say. "Don't you think we have to do something about this guy and prevent him from being promoted to the next rank?"

He knew that it would be very difficult for them to defeat this monster of the Bug Tribe if it were able to successfully promote itself, so they had to prevent it with everything they had to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Diablo, who was standing beside him, could not help but nod his head in agreement since he could already see the consequences when such a monster was to be unleashed into the world. He might not know what an Enlightened Being and a Sovereign Being exactly, but he could have a rough idea of how strong they were just by looking at the solemn expression that Shin had.

From their perspective, stopping the evolution of this monster would be the most logical conclusion that they had.

But Solus seemed to disagree with the idea of stopping this monster now. [I suggest that you cease the idea of directly interrupting it, my liege. It is because you will cause a more dangerous disaster if you do.]

[From what I can see from those runes, this entire underground cave is connected to the entirety of this kingdom. That is why it can absorb all the life energies from this land along with the plants, monsters, and other living creatures residing here.]

[Once you interrupt this evolution process, the already chaotic life energy within that core due to this descendant of the Bug Tribe will cause an explosion strong enough to wipe out everything within this kingdom. It is no different from erasing the kingdom from the map of this world.]

[Moreover, you will not be able to approach it due to the dense demonic mana coming out from its body. That residual mana that it can't properly digest is being ejected from its body, which will become its cocoon later.]

Shin frowned deeply as he felt troubled. "Then what do you suggest? If we leave this guy be, then it will be most likely to evolve into a higher being. That is no different from letting that explosion erupt."

"It may be a larva for now, but once it is successfully promoted, then there is a high chance that it will accelerate its growth and become an adult bug tribe, which is equivalent to the peak Enlightened Being of this plane."

"The current energies may not be enough for its full evolution, but once the purification ceremony kicks off, it will surely have enough to promote itself up to its adulthood."

[There are only two solutions right now, my liege. The first is to cut off the energy supply that the core has. At that time, it will only be able to absorb the energy left in the core, which is not enough for the complete evolution. Even if it happens, it will only be in an incomplete state or lesser larva of the Bug Tribe.]

Hearing that, Shin quickly scanned the entire cave and looked at the crimson and black runes engraved on the walls and the ceiling, closely observing them. These were the ones that were making it possible for the energy core to absorb the life energy of the kingdom, so he believed that once they got rid of them, things would be solved.

The problem was, that he could tell how sturdy these walls were after being reinforced by the runes. Shin was not confident that they would be able to get rid of all of them before the purification ceremony started purifying the land of the Sacred Light Kingdom.

Thinking about that, Shin decided to hear the other solution. "What about the second option?"

[That is to forcefully take away this descendant of the bug tribe and transport it to another location, my liege.]

Shin raised his brows and could not help but ask. "And how are we going to do that? And where are we going to take it?"

[We can take it to a place where no one can intervene when we are taking it down. If we can take it away from this place, then it will not be able to absorb any energy from this place anymore.]

Hearing that, Shin could already guess the answer to the first question that he had. "You want me to use the dimensional token that I've gotten Kentas and re-crafted by Berlin?"

[That is the only way, my liege.]

"Will it break once we use this method?" Shin could not help but ask as he felt a little worried.

From what he had experienced and based on what Berlin had said to him, crafting the dimensional token, which was also a special key that could let him enter and exit the independent world where the rebirthing place of this Elemental Spirits Companions was located, cost them a lot of resources.

It was only because of his close relationship with Berlin that they were able to afford it without paying much.

There was also the matter of the Chronomancer that Berlin had invited. He was not sure how the Saint Blacksmith had convinced that friend of his, but Shin could tell that he must have paid quite a huge price in exchange.

Knowing the concerns of her master, Solus reassured Shin with full confidence. [Don't worry, my liege. As long as we have enough energy, Hanzo, Astaroth, and I will be enough to do the job. We will also be able to lessen the burden for the token once we borrow its powers.]

[It will not break altogether once it happens. Instead, it will only exhaust some of its powers and will have to recover for the time being before being used once again.] She added to make sure that she thoroughly thought about this plan.

Hearing the confidence in her voice, Shin felt that this plan had more chance of success than the other.

After thinking for a moment, he suddenly asked. "So, which place are we going to transport it?"

[The Phantom Island is the most ideal. Transporting it to our rebirthing place will have a lot of risks, especially with it coiling around such a powerful energy core. With that kind of energy source, it can cause a dimensional collapse that will put us at risk when trying to travel between this world and our independent world.]

[It will be better to connect two places within this world since the dimensional tunnel will be more stable and much studier that way.]

[Since a powerful Chronomancer has set a strong formation on it, the previous restriction on the original token has already been lifted. So long as we have enough energy during the transport, we will be fine.]

Shin could already guess the plan that Solus had prepared and said. "So, you want us to wait until the purification ceremony finally reached its peak, where the World Tree grew, and a Spring of Life is formed."

"You want to borrow the energy that it will release as our power supply while using this place as the main catalyst for the formation of the dimensional tunnel."

Thinking that this plan might be plausible, Shin agreed and summoned the three Elemental Spirit Companions.

"My Liege!"

"My Lord!"

Solus bowed deeply while Astaroth quickly kneeled in front of Shin as they greeted him with the same 'enthusiasm' and level of worship as always. On the other hand, Hanzo remained calm and wore his usual indifferent attitude.

Shin felt cringing once again when heard the two. He was still not used to them addressing him that way, especially with that kind of tone.

Diablo, who was watching from the side, felt a little strange when he saw the scene. He had seen quite a few Elemental Spirits before, he even had quite a couple with him, but this was his first time seeing them act this way.

On his side, he had to constantly grant their wishes for him to ask for their help. But from the look of it, Shin did not have to do anything for these elementals to do his request – more like he could command them freely.

Diablo could not help but feel a little envy, especially when he recalled that these elementals could give their hosts or masters special quests related to their respective backgrounds.

After summoning the three Elemental Spirits, Shin waved his hands and let them do their thing while also handling the dimensional token to Hanzo.

However, he felt a little unsettled with it since he still needed to head over to either the Phantom Island or the Reaper's Realm to further his training for his newly formed style and study more about his innate attributes.

But since there was nothing they could do, he had to this little sacrifice.

Fortunately, he had already familiarized himself with his new style and possessed decent control over his three innate attributes. Moreover, the Reaper's Realm also did not have the other elements that needed, so he could set aside training there for the time being. He had to wait until he awakened the other two attributes before heading to either of those two places.

As he was busy with his thoughts, the three Elemental Spirits were already busying themselves.

Hanzo sat in the center of the cave while infusing his mana on the dimensional token while Astaroth was changing the terrain within the place while also adjusting some earth formations and building a couple of stone pillars to form an altar.

Solus, on the other hand, was busy observing the runes engraved on the walls and the ceiling of the cave before gathering her Eternal Flame and focusing them at the tip of her right index finger. She then started using it as a pen or an engraving tool to write a series of ancient divine runes.

She did not change the crimson and black runes that had already been engraved, nor overwrote them, since they still needed them to gather the incoming energies later. Instead, she formed an extra layer of runes and wrote over those already written runes to form a new sequence and formation.

Her actions were so fast that she was able to already cover almost half of the wall where she stood within a couple of seconds. Given her speed, it would not take that long before she was able to fully write the magic sequence that she was writing and formed a new magic formation.

Since she was able to arrange another formation without destroying the array that had already been set up, showed how skilled she was in this area.

Shin could not help but feel amazed while watching her do her work.

On the other hand, Diablo, who was silently watching from the side, could no longer hide his envy. He was curious how Shin 'trained' his elemental spirits for them to be this obedient. From the look of it, it was also clear that they were quite independent and did not need to follow any instructions from their master. They could do their respective jobs just fine and execute them well.

This became another reason for him to be closer to Shin. He wanted the latter to teach him how to train an elemental spirit.

Little did he know that these elemental spirits of Shin were the abnormal ones. But their master was also an abnormal monster, so they happened to click somehow.

While the three elemental spirits were busy, someone they had been waiting for finally arrived.

Shin did not even need to turn his head behind him as he already knew who it was. "You are quite late, don't you think?"

Leonard, who just arrived felt a little awkward and scratched the back of his head. "Well, don't blame me too much. I just feel a little excited when I can test my new strength. Those two Maverick Gods are perfect sparing partners."

"So, how is it?" asked Shin nonchalantly.

"It is not that bad, but they are quite disappointing since the gap between Tiers is a little too large. It will be a little different if they are in the same tier, but unfortunately, it is not the case," said Leonard before adding. "So, I've dealt with the few corrupted monsters and demonic creatures that undergo their respective third evolution that the other side has brought."

"No wonder you take too much time," commented Shin.

"So, do I have missed anything special?" asked Leonard as he stood beside Shin.

"Not that much. I can tell you about it later when we are done with this guy," said Shin before saying. "We have to wait a little longer due to certain circumstances, so you rest for a moment."

"I will contact the others to inform them about the changes in our plans. We will be leaving the kingdom later," he added.

Leonard had no idea what Shin was trying to say. But since it was what the latter had said, he had to trust it. He knew that Shin had already planned everything, so there was no need to question anything.

Little did they know that the next course of events would lead to another change within the game.

...