Child of Destiny

Chapter 1633: Competition at the Center of the Plagued Lands

...…

Shin rubbed the back of his head to relieve the pain from being smacked by an invisible stick as he sat up on the floor.

He then looked at Old Benn as he asked. ”Teacher, if you are back, then is Master also here?”

Grandmaster Benn paused for a moment before shaking his head. ”That geezer is still in the middle of the mission. I just come back here because I can seal the place assigned to me with the help of an old friend.”

”But donʼt worry. That friend is heading toward your masterʼs location, so it will not take that long before he can come back as well,” he added before turning to Shin as he said. ”Show me the progress of your mentalism. Let me see how much you have improved.”

Shin thought that Grandmaster Benn had seen him sparring with David earlier, which was why he was aware of the special technique that he had created. But from the look of it, the old fatty seemed to have only gotten the idea after overhearing his mumblings just now.

”Sigh~!” he then stood up and walked to the balcony before starting to showcase his Mentalism Method.

He first focused on the perfected Four Symbol Scripture, showcasing the techniques that he had already mastered from each method, before proceeding with the rest of the techniques like the Rune Mentalism Techniques.

After that, he proceeded with the sword principle that he had learned from Old Ryong as well as the Mentalism Swordsmanship that was just recently polished alongside its application with Jade Kirin Scripture.

Grandmaster Benn did not say anything and just watched Shin perform everything until the very end before finally nodding his head in satisfaction. ”I guess you did not slack off when we were absent. I must say that you have become powerful enough. You even make the Four Symbol Scripture on your own, especially with those breathing techniques.”

”I guess entrusting you to Old Henry is the right choice,” he continued to nod as he thought about this.

He had already received the perfected version of the Four Symbol Scripture from Shin previously and he had studied it as well, making his ʼincompleteʼ version to become perfected as well.

He also had his personal inspirations and own enlightenment as well, which was more mature than Shinʼs given his old age. He had a lot of experience, which was why he understood more depth compared to what Shin had discovered on his own.

He was silent for a moment before saying. ”Not bad, not bad. I will only be here for the night before I go to the council and report my findings and the progress of my mission. But before any of that, I will be guiding you and let you know what I know and my inspirations.”

Shin then became overjoyed as he was somewhat in a bottleneck after digesting all his gains these last few days. He might have solidified his foundation and even approached the Peak of the Grandmaster Realm, but he was quite lost at what to do next, especially when he did not know how he would create his Spiritual Force based on what he had experienced inside the game.

He wanted to copy the five-elemental lightning that he recently acquired within the game and thoroughly understood more of it before proceeding with the final step.

Old Bennʼs timing right now could not be even more perfect as Shin was lacking the right direction.

He originally wanted to ask Professor Henry, but the old professor was currently busy dealing with matters at the World Research Center after the sudden attack that the Black Serpent Mafia had launched.

Grandmaster Benn had guided Shin about Spiritual Forces and other things until it was quite late at night before leaving.

Shin, on the other hand, remained seated on the floor of his room and meditated. He was digesting all the knowledge and experience that Old Benn had shared with him, particularly on how the Spiritual Forces were formed.

Shinʼs case was a little special due to his Divinity Grade Mental Energy and the five elemental innate attributes that he possessed.

The combination of these was already quite powerful, which was already equivalent to most of the Spiritual Forces of other Mentalists. But it was also because of this that it was quite hard to merge everything and create his version of Spiritual Force.

But after hearing Grandmaster Benn, Shin also realized that he was looking at everything from a slightly wrong perspective.

Instead of forcefully trying to fuse the five elemental attributes, it would be better to let them naturally merge as he focused more on his Mentalism Method, which already had a way to combine the five elements.

Shin stayed in a meditation state for quite a while before slowly opening his eyes when it was already late at night.

There was a pale and gentle glow leaking out from his eyes the moment when he opened them. He then started to smile, which signified that he had gained quite a lot from it.

He then looked at the clock and saw that it was already quite late, making him smile bitterly. ”No wonder I am very hungry.”

He then stood up and walked out of his room, planning to head to the kitchen to cook some ʼmidnight snackʼ.

…

Shin only managed to log back into the game a little over midnight. A lot of things could happen in such a long time inside the game, especially with the time difference between the game and the real world.

When he logged in, he quickly checked the progress of the currently ongoing event and saw that there were quite a lot of people who got ahead of him.

The trio of Exheart, Bryan, and HellBan was able to maintain their rankings with the huge advantage that they had at the start of the event. Shin could tell that the three continued to hunt in the depths of the Plagued Lands.

What surprised Shin was that most of the names at the top of the rankings were those who were constantly competing with one another.

”It seems like these guys still find a way to still be able to become productive despite their constant fighting with each other,” he commented before raising his head.

His current spot was relatively safe despite being in the depths of the Plagued Lands. There were not much Plagued Monsters here, which was why he chose this place to log out. But in exchange for it, he was unable to find any monster for points that easily when he re-logged back into the game.

Checking his surroundings and confirming his location, Shin chose a direction and went toward it, going to the even deeper parts of the Plagued Lands.

Not long after, he started encountering common-rank Plagued Monsters one after another, which he was able to dispose of quite easily and quickly. Given his current strength and achievements, dealing with such a level of monsters was as easy as walking in the park.

Due to this, he was able to steadily accumulate more points and started his rapid rise in the rankings once again.

As he was hunting, he was also constantly utilizing the new version of Primordial Lighting, which now had the properties of the five elements.

He was not only familiarizing himself with using them but also trying to study them more deeply, trying to find out how they were formed.

Every time he tried utilizing this Primordial Lighting, he did not only focus on summing them, but he was also constantly switching between it and the five elements that formed it.

He was also closely paying attention to overall process when transforming between the lightning form and the five elements, trying to figure out its depths and profoundness.

The more he fought and the more plagued monsters, the more familiar he became with the process and the more he realized what he was missing in the puzzle.

…

As he was getting closer to the deeper parts of the region, Shin started to notice that the number of monsters started to become a little too restricted. It was quite contrary to what it was supposed to be, especially when he was already getting closer to the core area of the map.

The monsters here were supposed to be greater than what he could find in the outer layer of the region, especially when it was supposed to be closer to the center of the event map, yet he was barely able to find any monster he could hunt.

At the very least, the monsters should be slightly stronger than in the previous areas he went through, which was supposed to indicate that this layer was much harder to break through.

But contrary to what he was thinking, the number of monsters he was finding could barely satisfy his needs, which also slowed his hunting efficiency.

Finding this weird, Shin could not help but pause his hunting for the time being before turning his head and sweeping his gaze at the surroundings.

He focused his senses a little more, making him realize what was wrong. ”I see. It seems like I have walked into a ʼnetʼ formation. I wonder whose formation this is.”

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