Child of Destiny

...

"Tsk! Tsk!" Shin was resting at the depths of the Plagued Lands after hunting quite many Plagued Monsters within it. Given his strength, common-rank monsters were nothing to his eyes while those elites were somewhat of a good appetizer for his warmup.

As for the Special Elites, they were rarely spotted. It might be because the event had just started, so the slightly stronger monsters were not revealing themselves yet.

He had just gotten a report from his connections at the Hand of Midas that the guild was not only earning gold but also growing stronger as time went by.

Not only their foundation at the Awakened Continent was growing more solid due to the constant flow of funds that they were getting from the competing organizations, but they were also building up their influence by following Shin and the other's footsteps.

They were also not the ones, who were improving rapidly as even the guild that Shin and Shiella had recently created, the 'Deicide', was also slowly growing their influence.

Given that all their members had passed through the special test meant for the members of the God Slaying Army, their reputation and status within the Divine Empire was not something that could be ignored.

Individually, it might not be much. However, since all their members were 'selected' by the Mysterious Instructors, particularly due to Shin and the other's recommendation, their combined influence was not small.

They could be considered the most influential organization within the Divine Empire at the moment, particularly at the Divinity City.

But despite that being the case, they were ordered to keep a low profile and hid their movements in the dark to prevent the prying eyes of the top guilds and large organizations stationed at the Divinity City.

They were too secretive with their movements, making it hard for the parties to notice them. Especially when all their members focused more on doing the quests from the Divinity and avoiding any conflicts from any other parties.

He nodded as he felt that the report was quite good, even though he was not paying much attention to it since he had full confidence in Shiella – aside from him being too lazy to concern himself about it.

Even his dukedom along with the Golden City and Calderock Port were still being managed by Shiella and her people.

Ribbit must have been complaining as well since it had been a while since Shin had visited him.

Fortunately, the mysterious NPC group that Ribbit was running away from had never dared to target him within the Gold Mountain due to the forces stationed in that place.

…

After reading through all the messages that he had gotten and replying to those who needed him to, Shin glanced at the digital clock in the corner of his eyes and saw that it was now time to log out.

He then turned his eyes to the leaderboard of the ongoing event and saw his 'name' at the top of the rankings.

Given that he had been hunting at the depths of the Plagued Lands, it was not that strange for him to gain the advantage over the others, especially when top contenders were busy dealing with their old-time rivals and constantly fighting.

This made the top contenders to be somewhat behind due to the 'hindrances' that were blocking their advancement.

Shin was currently the first in the ranking, but his name was hidden from everyone else as he did not want to get that much attention for the time being since there were too many people targeting him.

The names of Exheart, Bryan, and HellBan were also right behind him since they had been hunting together since they set foot in the region.

"It is time for me to log out," he said as he stood up. He looked at the three as he asked. "What's your plan? Are you going to continue hunting?"

Bryan thought for a moment before turning to Exheart. Even if he did not want to admit it, he knew that this guy was the core of their little group.

HellBan was also the same as he remained silent and waited for their 'leader' to make a decision.

Exheart also briefly considered it before answering. "I think we are going to continue to explore the region. We have nothing better to do in the real world anyway."

"It is better to stay and be a little more productive here in the game," he added in a joking tone before continuing. "I guess this is where we part again."

Shin nodded his head. "Well, it is fun hunting with you."

"Let's play again in the future when the opportunity presents itself," he added as he turned around to look for a safe place to log out.

"Just don't ignore us when we meet again," said Exheart to which Shin waved his hand without looking back.

"Hey! We still have to spar in the future!" shouted Bryan after hesitating for quite a while. He had been planning to duel Shin earlier, but after the latter repeatedly showcased his powers, he had no choice but to admit that he was still far from being able to challenge this Battle God.

But at the very least, he could still see Shin's back, which somewhat gave him some hope of catching up.

Now that he had personally seen how Shin battled, he had gotten an idea of how he would develop himself. He could at least try going through intense training after they were done with this event.

HellBan, on the other hand, remained quiet as he observed Shin, who was now slowly disappearing from their line of sight.

He had the same thought as Bryan, but he had a clear view of the differences between him and that monster. He knew that it would be hard for them to catch up if they stuck to normal means.

He was planning to undergo special training once he logged out of the game later and asked his uncle to teach him a few more techniques in mentalism.

…

Psh!

Shin quickly got out of the gaming cabin and went straight to take a shower before going through his daily training.

He was planning to re-create the five-cycle breathing technique and base it according to what he had experienced inside the game.

He did not do any physical and foundation training this time as he went straight to meditation training right away.

He wanted to test all the gains that he had harvested inside the game and consolidate his strength here in the real world.

It took him quite a while before he digested all the knowledge and experience that he had gotten from the game before re-establishing his foundation according to it.

It did not take that long before his Five Cycle Embryo showed some reaction and matched the changes in his techniques.

The five elemental breathing techniques also formed a unique cycle that smoothly transitioned between each breathing technique. He could now shift his breathing according to the five elemental breathings much smoother compared to how they used to be.

There was no flaw or delay whenever he changed his breathing technique. At the same time, it was also being matched by the Four Symbol Scripture as it was also actively shifting according to the breathing technique that he was using.

There was also the Jade Kirin Scripture, which was able to balance and reinforce everything while also suppressing the discomfort inside his chest when the seed attempted to act when he was training earlier.

After stabilizing his current state, Shin then proceeded to enter the special state that he was in when he was planning the game.

It was the state where his five elemental breathing techniques and the Four Symbol Scripture became one while activating their full potential.

He even added the special Mentalism Rune Technique to match the chances of his body and used the special Mentalism Enhancement unique to rune mentalism.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

The Grand Gather Array of his room automatically activated, and it matched Shin's current energy consumption.

It did not take long for Shin to start floating in the air while he remained seated in a cross-legged fashion.

The familiar Mentalism Runes appeared on different parts of his body one after another, giving him different boosts and buffs while the apparition of the five divine beasts was manifested behind him.

Roar! Shierk! Howl! Wail! Growl!

The five cries of the divine beasts sounded simultaneously as they transformed into a streak of lights that circled behind him and formed a majestic diagram with their respective images.

Shin's aura also changed due to this, making him look like a holy being filled with sacred energy.

His Divinity Grade Mental Energy also appeared while dividing itself to reinforce the five elemental energies revolving around his body.

Boom!

His aura spiked to a higher level making the atmosphere tremble tremendously.

Shin felt an overwhelming power flowing through his body. It felt like he could do anything with this current state, but he quickly exited it after sensing the intense draining of his Mental Energy and Willpower while maintaining it.

Hu~!

He exhaled softly as he tried to regulate his breathing and calm the circulation of his energy within his mind and body.

He then slowly opened his eyes before deeply frowning. "Tsk! It is a pity that I can't maintain this state for long here in the real world."

"But it is more than enough to be my main trump card," he added after recalling that David had a similar technique.

But instead of having a diagram of the five divine beasts, the one behind David looked like a majestic magic circle filled with ancient and mysterious runes.

"Maybe I can understand more about this technique if I consult him," mumbled Shin before standing up and proceeding to his foundation training.

...…