Child of Destiny

“Are you sure about this?” asked Cloe as she stood before a virtual screen projecting the arena.

They were currently inside the prep room as the first round of the match was about to start.

Shin just gave her a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry. There is nothing wrong with my strategy. Since those guys are expecting us to dominate the Single Mathes and planning to give up this round, then why not we take advantage of this and give them some surprises?”

“This will not only increase our points, but it can also give them an unexpected shock,” he added chucklingly.

“Shin Bro is right, Cloe Sis,” seconded Leonard as he stood beside Shin. “Moreover, it can also make the match more exciting and interesting.”

Cloe rolled her eyes at the two before turning her attention back to the virtual screen. “Let’s hope that everything will go according to your plan.”

Shin’s plan was indeed unexpected and quite bold. But if it worked in the end, then they would not only win this match, but they would most likely dominate it as well; a 10-0 score was even possible.

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Shin had some history with the Seven Seas Group, which created a bad blood with them. But she felt that humiliating the other side was a little overboard.

Regardless, she was not against the idea either. After all, the opposing side indeed deserved such a ‘treatment’.

…

The crowd was already very excited as they stood at the audience stand, watching this match live. Even if it was live, the combatants would not be able to hear or see anything from the live audience due to the special barrier that was sealing the entire arena.

The battle arena was more than ten kilometers wide, which was quite huge. Adding the audience stand that was covering its entire perimeter, the number of live audiences shouldn’t be that small. It was not that small compared to the viewers watching the live broadcast online for failing to buy the tickets.

Above the center of this huge arena was a huge virtual screen that was projecting the events within the whole battlefield.

Since the Seven Seas Alliance had the home advantage this time, their chosen combatants that would represent them in the Single Matches of the first round had chosen a stage that would be more favorable and advantageous for them.

The arena that they had chosen was a forest swap. It was a wetland dominated by a lot of trees and shrubs. The swap covering the entire land was sticky and filled with dirty water or muddy soil. It formed quite a lot of quagmires and a few sinking muds.

One look at this battlefield was more than enough for the sharp-eyed experts to realize what the representative of the Seven Seas Alliance was planning.

Such a muddy terrain was quite restrictive for heavy armor classes such as Warriors, Knights, and Berserkers. Even some immobile classes such as mages would also find it quite challenging to move around this place given their limited number of movement and mobility skills.

The trickier part was the quagmires and sinking mud that could drag anyone down the moment they accidentally stepped into it. Classes with heavy armor could instantly sink in them due to the weight of their equipment while mages could also find themselves in tricky situations once they accidentally fell on a spot where those quagmires and sinking muds were located.

These thoughts were further proven when the first combatant of the Seven Seas Alliance appeared in the arena.

“Woo!”

“Yeah! It is finally starting!”

“Who will the Empyrean Talons send in for the first round?”

“The lineups for the entire match have already been locked before the start of the match, so they can no longer change it even if they want to.”

…

…

…

The live audience and the online viewers immediately went crazy right after seeing the first combatant, who appeared randomly within the huge battle arena.

They also became even more excited when they saw who it was.

The Seven Seas Alliance might be ‘giving up’ on the first round, which was composed of two Single Matches. After all, their side had a limited number of experts, who could contend equally against the top gods of the opposing side.

But that did not mean that the person that they would be sending was an ordinary expert. Even if this guy could be considered ‘weak’ when compared to the apex gods such as Shin and the others, he was still someone with a solid background and a resounding reputation within the professional circle.

‘Bowmaster’ Himura, a Peak Titled Ranker, could hold himself against most of the Godlike Players aside from those standing at the very peak of the virtual world and ranked at the top of the Godly Ranking List.

It was said that he used to be one of the top generals of Scarlet Monterey, a top guild that used to be one of the Powerhouses of the virtual in the previous game before it was taken over by the Seven Seas Group.

Unlike their leader, who had grown to become a top Godlike Player himself, Himura was stuck in being a Peak Titled Ranker, unable to gain himself a spot in the Godly Ranking Events or Godlike Title Tournaments such as the Hegemon Cup or the Supreme Dominion.

But that did not mean that he was a weak person. He was very skilled and powerful himself. It was just he was a little unlucky when it came to official events, drawing a more skilled expert that eliminated him early in the competition.

But at the same time, he was also not an absolute talent like Shin and the others, who had solidified themselves with their strength alone and convinced all the other players with their might and achievements.

Moreover, he was quite ‘old’ as well, which considered him as a veteran. This then made him unable to participate in any major rookie events meant for beginners to make their names known to the virtual world such as the Shadow Ranking Cup, Rookie Challenger Cup, and other novice tournaments that could give him a shortcut to becoming an official godlike player.

It was the reason why he had somewhat ‘lost’ his edge and was unable to even become a Maverick God, which was somewhat equivalent to becoming a Godlike Player. After all, the only difference between those two was the titles that the one had gotten from official events while the other had none but possessed a strength rivaling those with Godlike Titles.

What a Maverick God had was accumulated fame and a bunch of achievements that could rival the reputation of Godlike Players.

These days, the Grand AI was more than enough to calculate such things through the data that the virtual world had gathered about a certain player, so the modern system could categorize such players as a Maverick God.

The other way was having enough fame and reputation that could earn an individual enough votes from the players to petition them into an uncrowned god, which somewhat happened to Shin before when he became a Maverick Ranker with the title of ‘Emperor of the Night’.

A ‘little’ over it and he could become a Maverick God alongside the accumulated achievements that he already possessed.

But Shin already had his victory against a few famous and top-notch Godlike Players, which he had also earned through his Godly Challenge Rights. This was also a formal and official route, which was why he had earned his current title, especially his past achievements with his dual identity.

Bowmaster Himura failed to meet all these criteria, which prevented him from achieving similar results and earning himself enough reputation to become a Maverick God.

But given his current reputation and battle prowess, he was more than enough to be sent as the first representative of the Seven Seas Alliance. Even if he was not expected to win against the top combatants of the opposing side, he should be able to put up a good fight, which would then earn him extra ‘points’ from the online viewers and live audiences.

“I know that no one expects me to win this, but I will still bring out my best. Who knows, I may be able to win by some sort of miracle,” he mumbled as he got ready for the battle.

This Forest Swap was his chosen battlefield, and he was very familiar with it as this was where he usually trained his skills along with the other members of their team, who had a good relationship with him.

He knew where all the quagmires and sinking mud were located, which could be his additional weapons in this battle. If he were careful enough, he could lure the opposing party to those places and set up a trap for them.

Adding the high mobility of his class, which was a special path under the Archer Class, and his Dark Elf Race, which had a natural ability to move throughout this forest, he was confident that he would still have the chance.

“Now, all I have to do is wait and see who my opponent will be so that I can adjust my preparations,” he mumbled as he patiently waited for the system’s announcement, which would tell everyone his opponent and declare the start of the match.

*Ding*

Not long after, the announcement finally arrived. But the name of the opponent was not on the list of the players that everyone was expecting.

“What the heck!?” he mumbled in full confusion while staring blankly into the air before him.

…-or more specifically, to the system window, which was also telling him the matchup.

– “First Round: Single Match – ‘Bowmaster’ Himura (Peak Titled Ranker) vs ‘Herald of Chaos’ Chaotic Luck (Maverick Ranker) –

…