Child of Destiny

...

As Shin was heading over to the Castle situated at the far end of the Frozen City, Arthur and the rest of the team finally reached the gates of the city.

"Woah! It sure is huge, huh?" commented Arthur as he looked at the huge gate in front of them which was completely wide open.

"There are no guards nor people here. It looks like a complete ghost town despite having majestic and luxurious buildings," said Owen as he swept his gaze through the surroundings after entering the gates.

"Duh~? Of course, no people are guarding here or roaming around. This place is devoid of humans and other creatures long ago. If ever, undead monsters or vampires were the ones that we are expecting," said Arthur while looking at Owen as if he was an idiot.

The team was still advancing with the formation that they had earlier but on a much smaller scale. They had enough space away from each other, enough for them to not affect the others from making their movements and hindering the people near them.

But at the same time, they keep a close distance from one another to make sure that they would be able to respond in time and help each other if something unexpected happened.

"Keep vigilant, we don't know when we are going to get ambushed," said Black Hand, reminding everyone to keep their guards up. He also swept his gaze at the surrounding houses before adding. "Moreover, this is a perfect place to launch an ambush on us. There are a lot of buildings that can obstruct our line of sight, a perfect hiding place."

No matter how beautiful and amazing the city that they were, they didn't have the time to enjoy it due to the nature of their quest, especially with the eerie vibe that the city had.

But despite being anxious for such a long time, they never encountered any enemies along the way.

The whole group was confused at what was happening as it continued to be that way until they reached the city plaza where a beautiful fountain with frozen water stood.

But stay rooted in the mesmerizing sight in front of them as it seemed to be a masterclass painting displayed for an exhibit.

Looking at the scene in front of them, they unconsciously forgot about everything â€" about this place and their purpose of coming here, specifically.

They seemed to be enchanted by the sight which was supposedly a dangerous thing to do in their current situation. Fortunately, nothing happened even after a long time had passed.

Instead, they felt that their minds became clear. They also felt that all of the accumulated mental fatigue that they had were washed away just by looking at the frozen fountain.

"Hmmm?"

"What is happening?"

"Huh?"

The first to wake out from that state were Zero, Arthur, and Leonard. They tilted their heads and frowned their brows after discovering that there was something wrong.

But despite that being the case, they didn't wake up the others since they were also aware of the benefits that they could get.

"As expected, you are the ones who have the strongest mental strength aside from that little guy with monstrous willpower."

Then they heard a person talking from the side, making them fully on alerted mode. They quickly assumed a battle position without disturbing the others.

Casting their gaze toward the direction of the voice, they saw a silhouette of someone sitting on a frozen bench and hiding under the shade of the nearby houses.

"Relax, it is not time yet. You guys needed to be at your full power and most ideal state if you want to go against me," said that person in a leisurely manner.

The three didn't need to guess the identity of that person as they already had an idea of who he was â€" the commanding general of the Great Dragon Knight Army, Grand Marshal Draco.

The trio couldn't see his actual appearance as their sight seemed to be obstructed by a veil of an aura surrounding the grand marshal. It was a type of power that prevented the others from spying on him.

Grand Marshal Draco waited for his words to sink into their heads before signaling them to sit on the few benches near him. "We can take our time and have a chat first while we are waiting for the others to recover their mental strength."

The trio could feel the sincerity in his words but they still couldn't bring to trust him. Moreover, they were currently pressed for time. Aside from Shin who was trying to buy as much time as he could for them, there was also the matter regarding Immortal and the others who might attack them later.

On top of that, there was also the Pandemonium Descendants to consider as well. They were too many factors that they needed to consider, so they didn't have the time to relax and have a chat.

Seemingly able to read what was running inside their heads, the grand marshal gave them a meaningful smile and reassured them. "There is no need to worry. I am aware of your situation and enemies heading here."

"But didn't you find it odd that you haven't encountered a single enemy coming here? That is because we let you come unhindered," he added, catching the three off-guard.

He ignored the expression that the three had and continued. "But it is going to be different for those guys. They are going to face the remaining forces that you guys are supposed to fight while we are finishing our business here."

"That sounds good thing but it also looked too good to be true. Why are you even bothering to do this?" asked Zero in caution, not willing to believe those words yet.

Leonard and Arthur were the same. They remained vigilant and circulate their mana inside their bodies, getting ready to spring into action at any given moment.

Seeing their actions, Grand Marshal Draco couldn't help but become amused. "You, young lads, sure are interesting."

Then the expression in his eyes immediately changed and went back to his nonchalant attitude. "I have a lot of answers for that particular question, but I can seem to find the right one that can satisfy you."

"How about this? Let's say that I am quite curious about what your Predecessors see in you to pass their mantles."

"There is also a rather interesting guy in the other group who is also a Transcendent Being. But unfortunately, his greed far surpassed the person who first holds that mantle before."

"He deviated from the original goal that his race is supposed to be. He is already walking a path of no return. And he is long gone in the darkness and could no longer be saved."

"That is why our interest is directed to you, young people from another world, who are now carrying the legacy of those heroes. I may not know how did you get into our world, but I do know why you were."

He then took another pause and stared at the cloudy sky before continuing with a mystifying tone. "Some of them may have nasty personalities, but I also respected but nevertheless."

"And some of them may have made a wrong choice when choosing a successor, but I still trust that you are the right ones from those who have been chosen," he added while lowering his head and looking at the with eyes full of emotions.

Flashing a lonely smile at them, he suddenly added. "And right now, I am asking you to help me tell the world about us, who have been forgotten due to the passage of time."

Taking yet another pause, he continued. "Have you guys heard of Ascended Beings?"

Right after those words left his mouth, a string of system notifications appeared right in front of the eyes of the three.

*Ding!*

System: Another clue had been added to the ongoing quest!

System: Generating an alternative path for the quest!

*Ding!*

System: Due to the quest scenario, the party leader role is temporarily transferred to player Siegfried for the decision-making.

*Ding!*

System: Would you like to listen to Grand Marshal Draco's words and learn more about Ascended Beings? 'Yes' or 'No'?

System: Choosing 'Yes' will generate an alternative scenario for the quest.

System: Choosing 'No' will make you proceed with the current path that you are taking, forcing you to fight Grand Marshal Draco directly.

System: Please note that there is no going back after making your choice and it will affect the completion rate of your quest, so make your choice wisely.

...

The three became even more surprised when they read the series of notifications in front of them, not knowing how to react. Especially Arthur who suddenly took over the leader's role temporarily.

They somewhat expect the positive and friendly attitude that Grand Marshal Draco based on the last moments that both Nel and Caelum had.

They also knew about the Ascended Classes and Races since the game company had already leaked them to the public when the major regions were released.

The thing that they didn't expect was the thing what these system notifications were implying.

From the clue words that they could get from the notifications laid in front of them, they could tell that the grade of their quest could suddenly become different based on the choice that they were going to make.

If it now had the information about the Ascended Beings, then this quest would trigger new in-game content that could affect the players not only from the neighboring kingdoms but also the global players.

It would trigger a major patch that would change everything.

They now understood why they kept getting different types of 'Proof of Qualifications' despite the Empire Quest being related to Dragons.

"This might be because of the choice that, Shin Bro had made earlier. The nature of the Empire Quest slightly deviated from its original path the moment we 'saved' Lycan," muttered Leonard in a low voice.

He was also an expert in the game and quite an experienced one at that, so he was very familiar when these kinds of chances in the middle of their quest progress. They just didn't notice it earlier since their Empire Quest was a blind quest where they needed to gather information related to it while proceeding.

Zero also agreed after hearing that, and with more understanding at that since this also happened to him a couple of times, in the past, already.

If they were following the designated path for the quest, then all they have to do was clear every monster in their way, solve a couple of puzzles if needed, and defeat the boss, to clear it.

At first, he thought that it was because this quest was connected to the quests that the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches had, which was why it became too complicated. But it now became clear to him that it was because of an unexpected choice that they made.

If only they were aware of the fact that they belonged to the 'Miracle Players' that the World Gaming Organization were keeping an eye on, then they would understand why it was the case.

They were a group of players who always exceed the calculations of the great AI running the game, the AI Chronos. They always took a path that was out of the expectations of the system which was why these kinds of scenarios were being generated in the middle of the quests.

Their unexpected actions always created a new path that was not supposed to be in the script.

This was also the major reason why the monitoring team and development teams hated these miracle players. They were always the source of their 'troubles', which also lead to them needing to work overtime.

And right now, it seemed like another 'overtime' were currently waving at those poor guys.

......