Child of Destiny

Dong~!

A loud sound of a bell reverberated in the entire place right after the final notification sounded in Shin’s ears.

This signaled the start of the tournament.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then, right after that, Shin was immediately greeted by multiple attacks coming from every direction.

“Tsk!”

A royal rumble was always the start of these kinds of tournaments because it was the fastest way to eliminate as many participants as possible.

Shin was immediately subjected to being one of the main targets to eliminate as he was one of the ‘weakest’ participants around.

Forget about him being unfamiliar with the abilities that he had on this body; he did not even know what level of strength he had. He also did not know how to move properly with this body since some structures differed from a human body. Even if it was mostly the same as what a regular human had, there were still some organs and parts that were working differently.

One of them was the lungs, which were not the same as a human since it was meant for a sea creature. However, their functions were almost the same.

Most of the creatures of the sea had a completely different respiratory system compared to creatures of the land, particularly land animals and humans since their oxygen came from water while the latter came from the air.

Sea creatures mostly did not have noses. What they had for breathing underwater were gills.

Shin finally noticed this as he could feel that his body that he had was not working on the same function as his original body.

This could also mean that he would not be able to move his body like he was doing before. He could not regulate his breathing to use the martial skills and combat techniques that he possessed, much less use the breathing techniques to complement his Mentalism Techniques and unique Swordsmanship.

He was robbed of most of the abilities that he had, so he was currently weakened by a large margin.

Regardless, there were still some things that could not be taken away from him despite all of that. Just like his battle senses and other talents.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin strongly urged his body to move after sweeping his surroundings with his Spiritual Sense. He read the trajectory of every spell and other attacks heading his direction before dodging accordingly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He did his best to avoid as much damage as possible, but there were still some that landed at him due to his unfamiliarity with this body.

“Tsk! No wonder this trial is sent to the Chaos Difficulty. This is no different from throwing me in the middle of a slaughterhouse while sealing my skills and nerfing my stats,” complained Shin a little as he kept his surroundings in check.

What upset him more about the situation was the fact that everyone seemed to be purposely targeting him whenever he got near them. He even suspected that this was most likely a setting from the system.

Fortunately, the other ongoing battles from the other parts of this gigantic platform were much more intense than what he was experiencing, so he was still in a somewhat better situation.

Regardless, it was still hard to keep himself alive on this battlefield despite doing his best, so he was unable to do much. He could not even throw any kind of attack in retaliation.

During the entire process, Shin was doing his best to adjust himself to this body and get familiarized with its abilities.

This was the trickiest part of this trail if he were to pick one. He did not know anything about this body, much less what it could do, so he was having a more difficult time during the battle.

He had to experiment to look for what it was good at while also trying his best to get used to this body at the same time.

…

Not long after, Shin gave up on immediately looking for what this body was good at and started focusing on the other participants near him.

He was particularly looking for someone of the same race so that he could get an idea of what he was looking for.

Not long after, he finally found his target.

He did not even hesitate to change his direction and charge toward that direction. He was not going there to join that battle and help this fellow of the same race. He was heading in that direction to have a closer look at this Naga and what they were capable of. Experience tales at empire

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As he approached that individual, the explosions around him became more intense as more and more sea creatures joined in. Along with the ones that he had dragged with him, the battlefield became even more chaotic as everyone attacked whoever was near them.

Shin then finally reached the ideal distance to observe the Naga through his Spiritual Sense.

The moment when Shin got near that individual, the latter immediately noticed. The two of them locked their gazes at each other for a very brief moment before Shin saw the Naga slightly nodding at him.

It seemed like the Naga had misunderstood Shin’s intention and thought that Shin had lent him a hand to escape his previous predicament.

Shin was confused at first, but he suddenly noticed that all the Nagas or any race related to them were mostly being targeted by other sea creatures, both humanoid and non-humanoid ones.

At first, he thought that it was just his imagination, but as the royal rumble progressed and more and more participants got eliminated, the more the other Nagas got targeted by the rest.

“Are we a bunch of criminals for them to constantly target us or is it because we are just too powerful for them to gang up on us,” mumbled Shin as he observed the situation a little more.

Even though the Nagas were not the strongest among all the participants, almost every one of them was as strong as those leading participants. Each one of them was fighting against a group of five to six people or confronting opponents who looked to be the strongest among the bunch.

Shin then realized that this race that he currently had should be much stronger than he expected.

With that, he started focusing more on these Nagas while trying his best to survive. But as he observed them more, he suddenly realized another problem. He just found out that despite them being from the same race and somewhat similar classes, they still had a unique ability that solely belonged to them.

Shin had never seen any of them having the same type of abilities despite possessing a similar body structure. Even the weapons that they were using were different from one another, making him think that they had different classes.

This was not the end as he also noticed that every one of them was also using a unique breathing technique – though, he was not sure if he really should call them a breathing technique.

One of them was using a breathing technique that utilized the overall strength of their body to overwhelm their opponents with it. There was even this instance where this Naga contended against a huge creature that seemed to possess the raw power of a giant, yet the Naga never lost their ground in the slightest.

There was also this individual who seemed to be a master of cold weapons. His breathing technique complemented his style which kept on swapping weapons in the middle of the battle. His style was so complex that it was hard to read his intention. He always caught his opponents off guard with countless variations and combinations of his style.

Shin almost wanted to copy this particular Naga since this style was very similar to his Myriad Manifestation Swordsmanship. He guessed that he could use this breathing technique to complement his fighting style.

But he quickly shook his head and immediately rejected the idea as he knew that this was not what he lacked.

He proceeded to look at another and saw another Naga who was using a breathing technique to enhance their speed to the point that it was impossible to perceive them. If not for his powerful Spiritual Sense and enhanced ‘Sensing Circle’, then it was impossible for him to notice this speedy Naga.

The other Naga was similar to the previous one as they were also almost impossible to find. But instead of having an insane speed, this one possessed a breathing technique that could erase their presence – a technique that was perfect for assassination. This individual was constantly reaping life wherever they went without leaving a single trail behind.

There was another Naga, who seemed to be a mage given the constant barrage of water spells that they were sending to their opponents. This powerful mage was among the most outstanding participants that Shin had seen as they seemed to be unstoppable. Not even those other Nagas that he had seen earlier were a match for this individual.

As Shin continued to observe the others while also doing his best to survive this round, he finally realized what the unique ability of the vessel that he currently possessed – it was the ability to see through the secrets of others and read their actions.

It was similar to having an observation talent like David’s Enlightened Eyes and Uno’s Foresight. But at the same time, it was also somewhat different as it seemed to be a variant or a product of combining a unique talent and a special technique.

It was much closer to Arthur’s Dragon Eyes and shared similar characteristics with his True Sight Technique.

Shin suspected that this was the product of his Spiritual Sense and the unique ability of this host, which was why he could see through the breathing techniques of everyone in a much clearer way than how he usually perceived the others while using this technique.

As he thought along this line, a sudden flash of inspiration struck his head. “Flexible.”

This was the only world that he could describe after watching the other Nagas fight. Moreover, his first impression of them not having any similarities somewhat changed after realizing another thing.

All their breathing techniques seemed to come from the same root. Despite them ending up walking on different paths, they seemed to come from the same origin.

He thought about this as he felt a similar ‘scent’ from each of them.

When this string of thoughts entered his mind, another inspiration came to him. A heavy, overwhelming, and endless wave of pressure seemed to have enveloped him.

He felt that the ocean was embracing him.

This was not an ocean in physical form, but something different.

While he was stuck with this feeling, he could not help but utter another word to describe this ‘ocean’. “Boundless.”

……