Child of Destiny

……

Shin appeared in the Teleportation Hall of an isolated town on the outskirts of the Sacred Light Kingdom.

Due to the recent event that was currently happening in the kingdom, most of the villages, towns, and cities were currently under siege by the corrupted creatures or had already fallen. Even the main capital city of the kingdom, the Whitestone City, was currently not in a good situation.

The city was where the king of the kingdom had been assassinated, throwing it into utter chaos. However, since there were quite a few competent people and skilled NPCs residing there, they were able to temporarily hold the reigns of the city.

But it did not last long since the corrupted creatures from the forest started relentlessly sieging the city. Even with the help of the powerful NPCs guarding the city and the skilled players residing in it, they were still overwhelmed by the seemingly unlimited number of enemies.

They only managed to hold out until the civilians and noble families had successfully evacuated from the city. Then everyone who was left to defend the city started retreating to the best of their abilities.

It did not take long before the entire city was overturned and became a nest of the corrupted monsters.

Similar events were happening all over the kingdom, which led to a much more serious outcome than the disaster that the Saint Heaven Kingdom had before.

The Sacred Light Kingdom had suffered greatly due to the combined attack of the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches.

The Corrupted Cult spread their corruption through withering while the Demonic Churches started conquering the cities, particularly the largest ones such as the cities that were promoted into a capital city.

The Corrupted Cult had managed to snatch some and turned those cities into a corrupted nest, but the majority of the cities were under the control of the Demonic Churches.

After a long struggle, the remaining NPCs that managed to survive the initial attack of the two evil factions decided to work together and gather at the safest place that the Sacred Light Kingdom currently had, which was the entirety of the Maze Forest.

These NPCs were quite confused about how the Maze Forest managed to remain unaffected by the withering despite the surrounding regions it had already been corrupted. Not only did it remain in its usual form, but it also released a sacred aura that warded off the corruption caused by the withering.

The citizens of the Sacred Light Kingdom, both players, and NPCs, were quite hesitant to head over to that place since the Maze Forest was known for its unsolvable maze. Once trapped there, no one would be able to leave it, unless the players used their return scroll to teleport themselves out of the maze or the NPCs used unconventional methods to return to where they entered the forest.

But when they came to the Maze Region, they realized that it was not the case. Arriving there, they saw that the Maze Forest was someone different from before. Moreover, there were people on standby at the entrance that would guide anyone who was seeking shelter.

That was how a base was built in the Maze Forest, and how it became the core base within the current Sacred Light Kingdom.

Most of the kingdom had already been corrupted by the withering, but the Maze Forest stood strong. One of the main reasons was because of the concentration of elite forces that were gathered in this place. The most elite and strongest powers within the kingdom were now stationed here.

But ironically, the three top guilds on the player’s side – the Mythical Guild, the Golden Dawn, and the Clear Water Guild – were not in this place. Or more specifically, they were banned from entering the Maze Forest.

Naturally, these three tyrannical guilds could not accept that and started to make a fuss. They raised their complaints, unable to understand why they could not enter the Maze Forest.

They were quite desperate at the moment due to the current state of the Sacred Light Kingdom. Not only they were deeply rooted in this kingdom, but most of their forces were also stationed there. Their base of operations was mostly in this kingdom, so the current situation greatly affected them.

With the unexpected event, all their operations and business were instantly shut down. And as if that was not enough, the majority of their elites were caught in the war and died in the process, crippling most of their forces.

With all their bases being besieged by the corrupted creatures, they could not protect everything and were forced to focus on the few important ones. But they still did not expect that the forces of the evil faction would be that relentless. They were forced to abandon their bases and join the tide of people that were gathering in the Maze Forest.

Given their influence and the power of their guilds, they believed that they could at least get a decent position in the council that was currently situated on that map.

The Maze Forest was currently the safe haven for most of the citizens in the Sacred Light Kingdom, and the three guilds wanted to rebuild their footing in this place as a starting point.

But to their surprise, not only they were kicked out of that place, but they were also banned from entering the premises around the region.

They initially wanted to retaliate and demand an explanation, but when they learned who was currently leading the council, they immediately understood what was happening.

Owen and Ithilien were the ones who saved the Maze Forest along with the mysterious elder residing there. With the relationship that the two had built with this elven elder, they became the representatives of the elder in the council, who was also the leader.

This mysterious elder seemed to have a very important standing within the Sacred Light Kingdom as all the powerful NPCs and elven nobles were very respectful to him. None of them dared to question his decisions and followed everything truthfully.

It was at that moment when the guild leaders of the three powerhouse guilds realized that Ithilien had successfully cleared the main scenario quest that they were chasing.

Knowing that would not be able to do anything, they could only swallow their anger and head to the outskirts of the kingdom that were not yet affected by the withering.

Shin was currently in one of the towns that were far away from the center of the event. This place was too isolated from the main regions of the Sacred Light Kingdom, which was why it was yet to be invaded by the corrupted creatures nor reached by the withering.

As for why Shin chose to teleport here rather than the other places near his destination, it was because this was the only town that had a teleportation hall that was capable of long-distance transport.

Looking around, he noticed that the place was quite bursting. The teleportation hall was currently suffering serious traffic of players due to the experts that were rushing here to join such a major event.

Walking outside, he also saw a quite busy street. It now became a mixture of a marketplace and a team-formation hub. It now became a place where the players were recruiting members for the monster extermination teams and scout-and-exploration teams to join the event.

Shouts of the players could be heard chaotically due to the huge number of players gathered there.

Shin could not help but pursed his lips a little as he was reminded of the first time, he visited the Holy City. If they were following the regular script, then he would most likely find some arrogant people from the big guilds who started bullying some people.

But given the current situation of the kingdom and the information that he had gotten from Lorraine, he doubted that those big guilds would create some trouble.

Given that their current reputation within the kingdom was at its lowest, Shin doubted that their guild leaders were foolish enough to ruin it even further. If they tried to trouble these people, then they would have to prepare themselves to face the rage of the masses.

After walking around for a couple of moments and observing the current atmosphere, Shin decided to contact Owen and Ithilien.

Sickarius: Where are you two? I am already here.

He used their Adventurer Team Channel to send the message, so the others also replied aside from the two that he was referring to.

Sigfried: You do your job there while I will meet the Alliance Leader of the Wing’s Alliance and discuss the business that we have been delaying up until now. I now have more leverage since I have one of the few with Tier 3 Class.

Arielle: I am about to finish my promotion quest too. Please wait for me if you are doing an important mission.

Simba: I will be meeting those two that are kicked from the Central Order and see if they are willing to settle on our territory. I don’t think that there will be a problem given the current strength that we have.

Chaotic Luck: Big Brother, I finally found the ceremonial altar for my class advancement. Please, thank that Sister Goddess for me!

Akailu: Brother Sickarius, I am in the middle of the errand quest. I am quite lucky to find another.

Alucard: I think I will pass on this one. I still have to study the Legacy Skill Tree that Dracula has left behind and digest most of it. Then I will proceed to meet a mysterious instructor before continuing to challenge my promotion quest.

Archimedes: …

Daulla: Dad wants to say that we will try to look for clues about the mysterious instructors and try to find the secret method that suits us.

Charlotte: Then I can now leave and try challenging my promotion quest.

The string of messages immediately flooded Shin’s eyes right after sending the message. The replies came almost instantaneously and simultaneously, surprising him a little. These people were mostly busy with their respective businesses and could not be contacted after they separated, but they were surprisingly free to reply right now.

It was only at this point that the two that he was referring to responded.

Owen: Brother Swordsman, you can directly head to the Maze Forest. I will personally receive you when you arrive. I don’t think that we still have anything to do here, though.

Ithilien: You don’t have to be in a rush, Vice Commander. Most of our jobs here have already been dealt with, so I don’t think that there is much we can do.

Reading their reply, Shin could not help but frown a little bit. He came here mainly because of these two and to help them clear the most crucial part of their main scenario quest. But from their words, it seemed like he would be wasting his time here.

With a slight twitch of his mouth, he suddenly sent and reply.

Sickarius: You two better make sure that I am not wasting my time here, or else I will increase the difficulty of your training later in our sparring session.

After that, he closed the chat window and prepared to leave the city. But before he could even make his move, the corner of his eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of something.

On a secluded ally, he saw a group of people gathered together. They were surrounding a person and seemingly demanding him to give them something.

Shin wanted to ignore it at first, but after seeing the person who was surrounded by the group, he couldn’t help but become a little curious.

It was because that lone person was somewhat familiar to him. Even though he had only seen that person once before, he had gotten quite an impression.

It was the paladin that he had encountered in the Church of the Sun and Moon in the Holy City.

“What is he doing here? Is it for a quest? But this is quite far from his main base of operation and outside of the area of jurisdiction of the church,” mumbled Shin as he walked toward the group with a curious look on his face.

…