Child of Destiny

Shin stood rooted in his place due to what was standing right in front of him. It was not because he did not dare to move, but it was due to the immense pressure that he was currently pressing on him. It was a pressure strong enough to make his body freeze for how strong it was.

This pressure might not be as strong as Dracula, who was the strongest being that he had seen up until now. But it was slightly stronger than Draco and Lycan, who were in their peak state. This could only mean that whoever or whatever standing in front of him, was on the borderline between a Sovereign Being and a peak Enlightened Being.

“What kind of place is this?” muttered Shin to himself before focusing his gaze and staring in front of him.

There was a humanoid silhouette standing a couple of meters away from him. Due to the scattered branches of the trees filled with huge leaves, the moonlight was barely able to penetrate it. The combination of the night and the darkness under the shades of these gigantic trees made the whole place much darker than it could be.

Swoosh!

Then a subtle light suddenly came out from the silhouette, giving Shin a clear look at its appearance.

And when he saw what was behind the darkness, he could not help but slightly frown his brows.

He saw a humanoid creature donning a metal armor. The armor looked like the ones that the knights would be wearing during wars but also somewhat different.

Even if the upper body of the armor was similar to the knights the lower part had some clear difference. Despite being made of metal, the armor seemed to be a mixture of a skirt and a robe.

Looking closely, Shin could not see the legs of this humanoid creature. It was currently floating in the air at a very low altitude.

He could also see some blue lights leaking from the small gaps in the armor, giving Shin the idea that this must be a spiritual creature. It was immediately proven when the head of this creature was suddenly lit ablaze by a blue flame.

The head was like a burning ball with a raging blue flame.

It was a head without a face but the dancing flame over it represents its hair. There was a crown of blade on its head that seemed to be made of multiple knives while a metal face armor was outlining its non-existing face.

This spiritual being was holding a huge polearm weapon that seemed to be a hybrid between a scepter and a trident. The edges of the sharp heads of the weapon were glowing with crystalline light while snowflakes were flowing through its surface.

When Shin looked closer, he could see that there were ancient runes engraved on the armor and the crown of this creature as well as its weapon.

Overall, Shin could tell that this must be a powerful humanoid monster.

He could not help but gulp a mouthful of saliva as he stared at this monster. He became extra nervous when he saw its basic information through the panel displayed over its head after he used the ‘True Sight’ Skill.

——————

Monster Name: Winter Revenant ‘Edur’

Title: Watcher of the Frozen Land

Monster Type: Humanoid Monster

Race: Spiritual Being

Bloodline: Monarch

Monster Rank: Emperor (World Boss)

Level: 450

Hit Points: ???

Details: ???

——————

Shin swallowed even harder when he saw these lines. Although most of the important information was nothing but a bunch of question marks, the rest were more than enough to give Shin a serious warning.

The fact that this monster had its own name clearly indicated that this monster was very powerful. Moreover, it also possessed a title, which further informed him that he was in deep trouble.

Despite its size and height being similar to Shin and completely inferior to the black-feathered birds feasting on the huge corpse behind him, this monster was definitely much stronger than them. Its level alone was a clear indication of that.

To make it even worse, the information panel also indicated that this monster had its own race and possessed a bloodline, which was somewhat hinting that this humanoid monster had a certain ‘background’ unlike the regular monsters that he had faced up until now.

Then there was also its rank which indicated that this monster was one of the endgame bosses of the game.

It was a creature that was supposed to be an endgame content of the current stage of the game.

Shin did not know what to do since he clearly understood his current predicament. No matter what he tried to do, he would still end up dead due to the huge gap between him and this monster.

Swoosh!

Then, while he was trying to think what to do, the Winter Revenant suddenly floated forward. It made Shin become even more tense and frozen in place.

He was already expecting the worst.

But to his surprise, this monster just flew past him, completely ignoring his existence. Instead, it flew towards the black-feathered birds behind him.

He was shocked at first, making him completely stunned and unable to progress what was happening.

Then he suddenly turned around to see what was happening. It was at that moment that he saw the Winter Revenant waving its weapon and pointing it toward the sky.

Swoosh!

There was a pillar of light that came out from the top of the scepter and parted the thick branches of the trees. The pillar of light released an intense coldness that froze the leaves of the trees, which quickly shattered in the very next instant.

Then Shin saw the light pierce through the clouds before creating a hole in the atmosphere.

Boom!

Then a deafening thunder suddenly erupted and reverberated. It spread in every direction as the dark clouds slowly gathered around the pillar of light before spinning in a clockwise direction.

The scene that was created was like the formation of a storm in the sky over the sea.

Shin did not know what exactly was happening, but he could not take away his eyes from this scene. He stared at the sky, watching the gathering and spinning clouds with complete immersion.

One of the skills from his arsenal was also activated without him knowing. It was the special ocular skill that he had inherited from one of the most powerful NPCs within the game, which was also the guy who had tested him for the qualification of being a Nephilim.

‘Legacy Skill: Duplicator’s Eyes’

Then he witnessed the power of a monster close at this plane’s peak.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A raging blizzard suddenly appeared out of nowhere and assaulted the black-feathered birds. It hider their movements prevented them from moving freely, much less flying to escape.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖

Then a hail of huge icicles, ice spears, frozen arrows, and other ice-related spells started pouring from the sky and rained down at the huge birds.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shriek!

The black-feathered birds cried in pain as they endured the seemingly never-ending attacks that were assaulting them.

The storm lasted for a few minutes before everything settled down and returned to the forest on its usual calmness.

In front of him, Shin saw a field of snow in the middle of the forest with huge and sharp frozen pillars struck on the ground.

He could not see the gigantic birds with black feathers as well as the humongous corpse of the unknown monster that they were feasting on earlier. Aside from the snowfield surrounded by gigantic trees and huge frozen pillars over the snowy field, everything else was back to its usual calmness.

Shin could not even find the Winter Revenant that caused this scene.

*Ding*

While he was trying to calm down and doing his best to process what he just witnessed, his thoughts were suddenly distracted by the sudden notification sound sent by the system.

And when he looked at it, he could not help but raise his brows while the sound of the system rang in his ears.

System: You have discovered the Phantom Island!

System: You will not get any Fame or Reputation Points due to certain circumstances.

*Ding*

System: You have witnessed the records of the past.

System: You have witnessed the power of the Winter Revenant ‘Edur’, the Watcher of the Frozen Land! You received a certain level of insight!

*Ding*

System: Your understanding of the Water and Ice Elements has greatly increased!

…

It was at that moment that Shin finally understood what just happened earlier. It also had given him the idea why he did not find a single soul within this place as well as why that powerful monster just ignored him earlier.

Everything was coming together.

But that was not the only surprise that he had gotten. It was because another series of notifications suddenly bombarded his ears in the very next instant.

*Ding*

System: You have activated the Duplicator’s Eyes and peered through the secrets of a Monarch of the Ice and Snow, the ‘Frost Burial’.

*Ding*

System: Conditions have not been met. Learning the skill has failed.

*Ding*

System: Found a suitable skill to act as the substitute model.

*Ding*

System: Your Insight has uncovered certain secrets of the ‘Legacy Skill: Regan’s Method’!

System: Regan’s Method has created a new path.

The Skills ‘Cold Link’ and ‘Chilling Touch’ have created a new skill tree for elements of ‘Water, Ice, and Snow’! – Final Form ‘Frost Burial’.

…

Shin was unable to move due to the notifications that he just received. He failed to properly process everything due to how shocked he was.

Everything was a little too fast.

He felt that his brain had short-circuited due to how fast the information was entering his mind. There seemed to be a smoke steaming over his head, representing what was happening.

It took some time for him to finally able to calm himself down and process all the information that he had just gotten one by one.

Starting from the very beginning; this place seemed to be called the ‘Phantom Island’. He did not know what exactly it was, but from its name, he felt that it might related to Kentas. After all, that cosplaying dude was the one who had invited him here.

Regardless of the reason, he felt that this mysterious NPC had purposely brought him here and wanted him to explore it. Fortunately, Shin did not leave right away when he got out of the Trail Ground previously, or else he would have missed such an important opportunity big time.

Next was the thing that the system had mentioned, which was about ‘witnessing the past’.

Shin did not know exactly what it was, but it must be related to what the Winter Revenant had shown him earlier. That Ultimate Skill might be something important aside from being powerful.

Witnessing it once was more than enough for Shin to gain a certain level of insight when it came to Water and Ice Elements. This proved that there was more to it than what he could see from the surface.

And last, but not least, was the final set of notifications that he had received.

This particular skill, which the Winter Revenant had shown, seemed to have affected one of his Legacy Skills, the Regan’s Method. And from the look of it, there seemed to be a certain level of connection between the two.

He was not sure about it, but Shin felt that it might be the case.

The ‘Duplicator’s Eyes’ seemed to have played the role of ‘building the bridge’, but Shin felt that it was not everything. He felt that this ‘Frozen Burial’ was somewhat connected to this Legacy Skill created by Regan.

Thinking about it, Shin felt that something clicked inside his head; an idea flashed through his mind.

“Don’t tell me the research lab of this ‘Magic Knight’ is hidden somewhere on this island?” muttered Shin as he remembered the historical note written on the description of the ‘Regan’s Method’.

—————-

Skill Name: Regan’s Method

Skill Rank: Legacy

Historical Note: Great Swordsman Regan was branded as someone who didn’t have any talent in regard to Swordsmanship despite him loving the art of the sword too much.

But even if that was the case, he was too talented in the arts of Elementalism. He tried to find a way to combine his passion for Swordsmanship and his talent for Elementalism.

After years of research, he finally found a swordsmanship of his own.

Hint: Find Regan’s secret laboratory to learn the full mystery of this skill.

—————-

Reading through this description, Shin could not help but feel excited.

His heart beat fast as he felt that he was going to find an answer to one of his questions. “This must be the solution that I am looking for!”

……