Child of Destiny

……

After chatting for a while, Shin was able to get a rough idea of Wade’s situation. From what he had heard, it seemed like the latter was suffering from serious malnutrition due to being exposed a little too much to ‘Hyperactive Immersion’.

Unlike the ‘Reality Manifestation’, where the player could just rely on their Martial Arts and Mentalism Attainments from the real world, the person who could use the ‘Hyperactive Immersion’ needed to adjust their body from the real world and match their slowly evolving minds with it.

If there was a discrepancy between the mind and the body, it could result in a serious conflict. Due to the mind being a little too advanced compared to the body, the latter would consume a lot of nutrition. But if the required nourishment was not met, then the body would instead consume the vitality or lifeforces of the person, which could cause them to die a slow and suffering death.

Usually, it was not as serious as this. But the version of ‘Hyperactive Immersion’ that Diablo was using was much more advanced compared to the original one. Moreover, he was also using a secret technique that was putting a huge burden on his brain after using it for an extended period of time, so the side effects that he was suffering were much more serious than what they used to be.

Fortunately, Wade arrived here before the situation could even get worse. It was also thanks to an old family friend, who was supporting him up until now, that he was able to live up until this point.

If his situation was mishandled even for a little bit, then he would most likely die from ‘hunger’.

But all this suffering was exchanged for some things that positively affected him both in the real world and the virtual world.

After the treatment that he was undergoing, he would be able to steadily grow. As his mind evolved further and his body became stronger through the nourishments of special serums, medicines, and food with a highly concentrated energy, Wade would be able to live the life of an expert.

He would be able to make up for his lack of talent when it came to Martial Arts and Mentalism and became a true expert himself.

These things further fueled Shin’s desire to pull Diablo over to their side. It was because all these things were the result of the latter attaining extreme strength that surpassed most of the players within the game.

At the same time, he was also quite eager to fight Diablo right now. It seemed like the guy was also progressing fast while Shin was making his own progress in his fighting style.

“Your future test will be conducted here when everything is handled by the Professor. But it still has to wait for a few days or even a whole week before you can be transferred here-…” explained Benedict while introducing the whole place to Wade. “…-after all, there is still some equipment in the research center that we don’t have here.”

“You can only come over when all the required tests are done and all the data are recovered properly,” he added as he turned toward the two once again.

Benedict thought for a moment before continuing. “Since you are already in a better condition, I suggest that you do some daily exercise during the morning and come here in the afternoon for your strength training.”

“We have to make sure that your body has adjusted properly before you can receive more advanced training.”

“But before you undergo specialized training from a dedicated instructor, you have to find a suitable Martial Manual in the virtual world and train it. You must reach a certain level of mastery of the art before you can proceed in training it in the real world.”

“I understand, Sir Benedict,” nodded Wade with full seriousness.

Benedict chuckled when he heard how Wade addressed him before complaining. “How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that? Big Brother or Brother Benedict will be fine. Senior Brother will do as well.”

“Our ages are not that far from each other. I am still young to be addressed like that,” he added with a helpless tone.

Wade hesitated for a moment since he felt that he was indebted to Benedict. After all, the latter was the one who was always looking after him whenever Professor Henry was absent.

But after a brief hesitation, he still nodded his head and complied. “I understand, Senior Brother.”

Seemingly like this attitude, Benedict pointed at Shin and continued. “I also suggest hanging out with this guy more often. He may look younger than you, but there is no doubt about his strength.”

“He is already quite an expert himself. Although, he is still a little wet behind his ears.”

“But you will surely benefit from hanging out with him and his friends, especially as each of them was a student from the special program of the academy. They are the talents that may represent us in the upcoming ‘Empires War’ and ‘Battle for Supremacy’ three years from now.”

Benedict did not mind telling such a thing as it was not even a secret. Shin and the rest of the class joined that special program for that very reason anyway, so it was kind of an open secret already.

In the meantime, Wade could not help but give Shin an odd look as he was not sure how to believe such words. But after recalling his experience inside the game when they first fought, he immediately became convinced.

He had to admit that Shin was very powerful inside the game.

And if Shin really commanded the state of ‘Reality Manifestation’, then it could only mean that Shin had a very strong Martial Arts or Mentalism Method here in the real world.

Wade nodded his head, acknowledging the words that Benedict had said.

Benedict thought for a moment before pointing toward the little gym at the other side of the secret laboratory and instructing. “Since you don’t have anything to do, then I suggest you try building muscles for the time being.”

“You don’t have to start lifting yet since your body is still in the middle of recovery. But I suggest you do some cardio first.”

“If you don’t know what to do, then you can look around there and wait for me until I am done with Junior Shin,” he added before turning around and pulling Shin toward the special energy rooms.

Shin nodded his head to Wade, excusing himself.

Wade returned to nod before turning toward the strength-building gym.

…

Benedict led Shin toward the special training rooms while asking. “So, what do you want to ask me, junior?”

Shin thought for a moment before quickly telling Benedict the purpose of his visit. “Senior Benedict. It is like this. When I was doing my Tier 3 Promotion Quest, I suddenly got inspiration and was able to create a unique fighting style of my own.”

“It is a combination of the mentalism swordsmanship from my ‘Jade Kirin Scripture’ and the special methods of my ‘Four Symbol Scripture’.”

“And together with the special breathing techniques and energy applications that I have learned from the lessons that Professor Henry has suggested, I am able to create my unique mentalism swordsmanship.”

“But the problem is I can’t apply it in the real world due to the limitations of my current realm. It will only be possible if I reach the Rulers Realm at the very least, which is way too far from my current realm. I am not even at the peak of the Grandmaster Realm.”

Benedict continued to listen before asking. “Can you describe this unique mentalism swordsmanship that you are talking about? I may be able to find a way if I have a clear picture of it.”

Shin thought for a moment before suggesting. “How about I show you a recording of my battle? I am sure that it will give a clearer idea.”

“That will be better!” nodded Benedict before making a turn and heading toward the little relaxation room adjacent to the energy training rooms.

Shin quickly followed while using his advanced watch to log in to the official website of the game and enter his personal cloud storage account.

He also went straight to the recorded and backup videos before downloading the necessary materials that he needed.

…

Inside the relaxation room, Benedict watched all the battle clips of Shin fighting Lucy. He even replayed a couple of them, trying to get a clearer look at his junior’s style.

When everything ended, he could not help but shake his head and click his tongue repeatedly. He had to admit that his junior was indeed talented when it came to mentalism techniques and swordsmanship, especially when it came to sword-drawing style that made him want to go for a quick spar.

His junior might not be fully aware of it, but he could see that this sword-drawing style had great potential in the hands of this junior.

Shin just did not know how to fully utilize it yet. Or to be more precise, he still had not polished it enough to showcase its real strength.

But despite that being the case, Shin seemed to have found another way to fully utilize his multiple attributes and even created such a complex and complicated style of fighting.

“Multiple styles in fighting,” mumbled Benedict before laughing bitterly. “This reminds me of that old demon from that great war.”

“An old demon?” asked Shin with a confused and curious tone.

Benedict turned to Shin and nodded his head. “Yeah. An old demon. The Thousand-Arms Demon Asura.”

“Even though your version of ‘multiple styles merge into one’ is a little different, the vibe that they gave off and the logic behind the entirety of the style are somewhat similar,” he added.

Shin had heard about the ‘Great War’ before since the old general in their home, Samuel Springfield, Demon-Fist General, was one of the active experts during that time.

But was a very long time ago and Samuel Springfield was still very young at that time. Moreover, the records about that war seemed to have been sealed or controlled due to certain reasons.

But Shin also heard that there were quite a lot of powerful experts that rose and fell during that time, so it would be impossible for him to hear about all of them.

Shin knitted his brows and asked. “It sounds like you have seen that so-called Demon, Senior.”

Benedict laughed and waved his hand. “It is not like I have seen it personally. But I indeed saw him fought before. Although, it is only from video records.”

“Video recordings?” Shin could not help but feel a little excited when he heard that.

Benedict thought for a moment before explaining. “During the time when the war ended. There is a certain event that makes some of the surviving experts fight against each other.”

“I am not clear about the reason behind it, but I only heard that it is because of some ‘moral values’ or such.”

“During that time, there was a huge battle that occurred. Then some people who seem to be documenting the ‘victory’ of our side happen to witness it and started recording the battle.”

“And one of the recordings is a battle that the Thousand-Arms Asura have participated in. That is where he displayed his extremely brute but complicated Martial Arts. He is able to wield multiple types of weapons at once and even shuffle some of them during the entire battle.”

“It is really such a mysterious art. It makes him look like a demon with multiple arms.”

“I happened to watch his battle against another apex expert through a recording when I was doing my early internship at the World Research Center. We are using it as a study material for a certain subject.”

He then paused for a moment as he tried to recall something before continuing. “But from what I remember, the recording is originally owned by the government – the Department of Cultural Heritage.”

“It is a department that preserves the inheritances of ancient martial arts or cultivation knowledge. I heard that they also major in studying those ancient knowledge that are left behind by past eras.”

He then quickly went back to the original topic and continued. “Anyway, I have gotten a rough idea of your style and understand the logic behind it. I think it is not that impossible to achieve, but it will be very difficult to achieve.”

“Let me consult the professor about this. I am sure that he can find a way,” he added before instructing. “For now, focus on improving your control over your three innate attributes and master the special breathing techniques. The rest will naturally follow.”

“You don’t have to be too anxious about it. You just must advance at a steady pace, and you will gradually achieve what you are looking for.”

Shin nodded his head and quickly thanked Benedict. “Thank you, Senior. I will come back again at the usual schedule.”

Benedict nodded his head before sending Shin off. After that, he walked back inside the laboratory to watch over Wade.

“Tsk! Tsk! It is really hard to be a personal assistant of the professor. I have been working my *ss off these past few days. I wonder when Big Sister and the rest will come back. I seriously need their assistance right now.”

…