Child of Destiny

Chapter 1915: The Curtain Falls

……

The final curtain of the United Cup had officially fallen right after the post-match conference had ended, which Arthur had attended along with Chaotic Luck and Owen, who he had practically dragged, as the United Cup had yet to die down when the World Gaming Organization reminded everyone about the upcoming patch.

This major update would require all the servers of the game to undergo a whole month of maintenance, just like when the ‘World Metamorphosis’ patch was released.

The upcoming patch, the ‘Descent of the Thousand Worlds’, would undoubtedly be another world-changing update, so everyone was also looking forward to it.

The players were all looking at the flying and aquatic mounts that would most likely change the exploration methods of every player, particularly those from huge organizations and top guilds of the game.

Many were excited for these strategic mounts, while others wanted to explore the other dimensions to seek opportunities.

The ones who were the most excited among them all were those from the Evil Faction. Even if most of them had already settled in the tribes and other organizations under the Evil Faction, having another place to explore without worrying about being hunted by other players and NPCs was something that they could get excited about.

Aside from that, they could also explore those dimensions, which were clearly meant for them.

Aside from these, forums of the beta testers were also announced to be unlocked right after the next update was launched.

However, these official forums could now be accessed by the mainstream players unless the respective dimensions had become available for everyone by opening the portal and establishing a stable dimension tunnel.

It was to prevent the other players from using the information from these forums to find the corresponding questline for every dimension.

The mainstream players needed to work hard and fairly before they could gain access to this information.

The beta testers who were ‘trapped’ in their respective dimensions could also use other means to leak some information to other people, but it was not without serious consequences.

Since they had signed an NDA contract both inside the game and the real world, the authorities would punish them more seriously than they could expect.

Adding that they had also taken a special oath during the process, getting kicked out and banned from the game would be the least of their worries.

It was because of this that no information about the progress of the game had leaked to the public.

At least, that was what showed on the surface.

Who knew what those ruthless and cunning people from the huge organizations in the real world were doing?

With these two topics circulating online, a lot of people became more aware of the game and its importance.

More people had also started to understand that the influence of the game was not as simple as it seemed, especially after learning that even the Void Manifestation Stage Experts, Rulers Realm Mentalists, Swordmasters, and others with similar strength from other disciplines could not freely join the game without worry about the heavy restrictions after the upcoming patch.

The game company was not as ruthless as everyone had originally thought. They did not immediately drop the next update right after the matters of the United Cup had settled.

They had instead given everyone an entire week to fully prepare themselves before they started the maintenance.

The players could finish their current ongoing quests or other tasks during this period. Given the time difference between the game the reality, an entire week was already long. It was more than enough to finish those difficult tasks and high-end quests during this period so that they would not worry about the upcoming patch.

Even though the game company had announced that the timeline within the game would be frozen during the entire maintenance, the players were still quite worried about their respective progress in their quests and such.

After all, a month was not that short. A lot could have happened during this time, and most of the players would most likely forget some matters within the game, along with some details and clues of their quests and other tasks.

This would lead them to overlook some of the most crucial quests and even forget about them altogether. Such things would make it hard for them to progress later when they returned to the game.

Understanding the concerns of the players, the game company answered their concerns, giving them more time to prepare for the upcoming patch.

…

During this period, more players started to arrive at the Awakened Continent one after another, while the big guilds and powerful organizations started expanding their exploration to prepare for the upcoming patch.

They had started arriving at the other major regions of the Awakened Continent, trying to establish their footing as much as they could before the patch arrived.

Most of the players from the other races had started leaving the regions of the Divine Empire and seeking opportunities in the other Major Lands meant for their respective races.

After all, the Divine Empire was dominated and ruled by Humans.

The races with the largest population among the players, aside from Humans, were the Elves, Beastmen, and Undead due to them having larger varieties of subraces under them.

Elven Players headed to the Alfheim Kingdom, the home of elves.

Meanwhile, the Beastmen Players arrived at the Bestia Mountains, Bellua Jungle, and Tristique Islands, the ancestral lands of all beast tribes.

Most of the Undead Players had already been transported to the Forsaken Islets right after arriving on the Awakened Continent, so they were somewhat ahead of the others.

The Draven and Gnome Players, which were quite few in numbers due to them being recently released as a Major Race after the events in the Dwarf Kingdom, had also found the Nidavellir Kingdom, the underground kingdom.

(Reference: Arc from Chapter 613-652)

There were also the other special races, but since most of them were counted as the subraces of the Major Races, they just arrived at the regions meant for those races.

In the meantime, those from Aquatic Races, particularly the Ocean Naga, were put in a somewhat peculiar situation. It was because the Atlantis Kingdom, the sacred land of fishmen and other aquatic races, could still not be found.

It seemed like the Atlantis Kingdom was quite special and connected to a major questline, which was why it was not found by the players.

This disappointed quite a lot of players with races related to it. They complained to the gaming company, telling them that it was unfair to them.

The players from the other Major Races were already at their respective sacred lands to prepare for the huge update, yet they were still stuck at the coastal regions of the Divine Empire and unable to find any clues about the Atlantis Kingdom.

Unfortunately, the game company remained quiet, ignoring their complaints completely.

Meanwhile, those players related to Evil Faction, particularly those from Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches, had started to gather in the Dark Cloud Kingdom.

The war in this kingdom was still as fierce as always, making it the main battlefield for the two major factions of the game.

These players of the Evil Faction fully understood that the clue of the Nether Realm and Infernal Realm was most likely related to the Demonic Portal in this kingdom, so they were rushing to it as a form of their preparations for the upcoming update.

Everyone was getting busier the more the ‘deadline’ approached, making a lot of movements within the game.

…

During his entire time, the members of the Empyrean Talons did not do anything major and were free to do whatever they wanted.

They could do their quest if they wanted or grind for more levels while waiting for the major update to drop.

Shin did not dare to start any major quest since he knew that he would only be interrupted in the middle once the patch arrived.

He originally wanted to look for more clues about the [Ring of Abyssal Moon] by delivering the message to the Fifth Envoy Altus’s sister. But he quickly dropped it after hearing from Alice and Ithilien, who were at the Alfheim Kingdom, that her status was quite within the Elven Council, so getting near her was quite impossible for him for now.

He could only wait until he had the opportunity or find a way to deal with this quest.

During these moments, Shin found himself quite idle, so he started researching his secondary combat class, the Phantom Swordsman Class, to learn more about it and its hidden abilities while grinding some levels at the Forgotten Sea.

At the same time, he was also looking for some clues on where he could find the sea creatures that he needed to hunt for his Divine Armor Quest.

He had already hunted the ‘Trinity Apes’ under the ‘Heavenly Dominator’ and the ‘Four Mountains’ under the ‘Forest Guardian’.

He only needed to find the three ‘Legendary Birds’ under the ‘Sky Monarch’ and the four ‘Sea Kings’ under the ‘Ocean Overlord’.

He was already in the sea anyway, so he might as well look for the four Sea Kings of possibility.

As for the four major monsters that needed to be hunted, Shin set them aside for now since he knew that he would not be able to hunt them yet with his current strength.

Their respective names alone were more than enough to warn about the dangers of hunting them.

Based on his estimate, he needed to have at least reached the level of an Enlightened Being before he could start hunting them.

…

While he was busying himself, he found it strange that Arthur rarely went online in the game, which was very unlike him.

When he went to others and inquired about the situation, he could not help but smack his forehead after learning what was going on.

Arthur, this showoff, had accepted a series of invites from different entertainment programs related to games to be their guest.

The Empyrean Talons had just won one of the most prestigious tournaments, so it was natural for them to have such invites. Arthur truly loved being treated as a celebrity.

Shin also heard that even Miss Bunny had invited them for an interview and to join her in the entertainment program that she had just started under the sponsorship of the Flying Dragon Corporation.

Shin could only sigh helplessly at Arthur, who enthusiastically accepted such invites yet also always complained about his level being behind the others.

…

Pssh!

Getting out of the Gaming Cabin, Shin was preparing to do his daily routine when he heard someone knocking on the door.

Raising his brows, he could not help but look at the time and found that it was still very early.

“Who could it be?” he mumbled and walked to the door to open it.

Immediately after, he found David standing outside his room and smiled at him.

“Master is back,” David went straight to the point, not bothering to beat around the bush. He immediately stated his purpose for this visit.

Shin immediately understood and quickly nodded. “I understand. Let me prepare first. I’ll follow you in a bit.”

After that, he turned around and headed to the bathroom, planning to take a quick shower first before going.

……