Child of Destiny

Shin took a different approach in battle when he resumed fighting the Evil Dark Dragon Kardama.

Instead of finding a way to defeat the evil dragon, he focused more on honing his skills, particularly when controlling the Eternal Flame provided by Solus and Brilliant Flames coming from the surrounding.

He was also looking for another way to understand the innate abilities of his race other than controlling the Powers of the Brilliant Sun and Abyssal Moon.

Since he had basically ‘cleared’ the Trial by clearing all the Drakons’ nests and eliminating the Evil Fragments.

Defeating Kardama was just an ‘additional’ condition, so his focus right now should be improving himself and his powers.

This was what he had realized after putting more thought into the details of Altus’ Trial.

If he followed the patterns left by the clues and putting the pieces together, then it would be easy to guess that he would have to go through a series of tests and trainings meant to awaken the hereditary abilities of his Transcendent Race and hone them into desirable level.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Shin managed to further deepen his understanding of the Brilliant Flames, greatly enhancing his flame-related abilities and elevating his Eternal Flame to a higher level.

Moreover, he started to create a series of tricks and techniques while applying his newly improved understanding of the Brilliant Flames.

At this point, even if he had yet to reach the level of mastery that Altus possessed when he was alive, Shin was confident to say that he was not that far from reaching it.

With these tricks that he had learned and techniques that he had created, he could now at least hurt the evil dragon when applying everything to his actions.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

Not long after a few more exchanges, Shin finally noticed something. He realized that the more they fought, the weaker the evil dragon got.

When he put more attention into this, he found out that Kardama was also expending a huge amount of energy to fight the seal that Fifth Envoy Altus had left behind in the dungeon.

The evil dragon was slowly getting exhausted by the seal, greatly affecting its abilities.

“So, that’s it!” Shin seemed to have figured out something once again when he saw this. “The timing between the weakening of this overgrown lizard and the completion of my understanding over the Brilliant Flames is too coincidental.”

“It can’t be just a mere coincidence,” he mumbled as he stared at the fast-approaching dragon.

“If that is the case, then let’s have one final dance!” he added as he twirled the [Yamato] left and right before putting it back to sheath.

He then raised the sheathed sword before him horizontally, stretching both of his hands forward with one holding the sword and maintaining its position while the other was positioned right behind its hilt.

When Kardama was about to reach him, Shin suddenly grabbed the sword and pulled it out from its sheath, revealing its blazing blade.

Shing!

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermilion Bird – Cry of the Undying Phoenix’

Shriek!

Immediately after, a huge blazing storm was released from the gap between the sword and its sheath before suddenly extending outwards.

Boom!

Due to the sudden appearance of the blazing storm, the incoming evil dragon had no choice but to crash against it, relying on its powerful physique to withstand the scalding heat and destructive flames.

Roar!

As Kardama broke through the blazing storm, he revealed the burn marks on different parts of his body, signifying the intense heat that was produced by the flames.

He was about to swing his claws at Shin when he saw that the latter was already expecting his breaking through of the storm, assuming a sword-drawing stance.

With the pair of huge blazing wings behind him, Shin suddenly unsheathed the sword before swinging it forward and releasing the powerful beam that rivaled the dragon’s breath earlier.

Shing!

‘Jade Kirin Scripture: Quick Draw (Blazing) – Phoenix Wrath’

Boom!

(-602,233)

The blazing beam hit Kardama straight to the face, dealing significant damage that greatly chunked a huge portion of his health bar.

This was the first clean hit that Shin had landed since the start of this solo raid. But he did not stop there as he continued to proceed with his next move.

Flipping his wrist over, he held the [Yamato] tightly before placing it over his shoulder while also twisting his waist in the process.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

A storm of Brilliant Flames then gathered around and revolved around the sword, forming a blazing tornado.

He then waited until the fully enraged evil dragon broke through the blazing cloud produced by the earlier explosion before swinging the sword with all his might, slashing it downward.

‘Four Symbol Scripture: Celestial Vermilion Bird – Phoenix Annihilation’

Shriek!

When Kardama saw the gigantic blazing sword descending upon him, he suddenly opened his mouth wide and released a deafening roar that shook the entire dungeon.

Roar!

Boom!

But it barely did anything as the destructive attack still landed on him.

(-202,523)

He might have weakened the might of that slash, but he still suffered decent damage, further dropping his already low health bar.

Roar!

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Boom!

Alongside another deafening roar, Kardama started exchanging more blows against Shin, wanting to annihilate the latter.

Unfortunately, the effects of the seal left behind by the Fifth Envoy were already getting stronger, further weakening his prowess.

Kardama could already sense that the remaining lifeforce that he had in his body was slowly weakening, making him even more enrage.

Unfortunately, his berserk state could only do that much as the power of the seal was getting stronger due to Shin’s continuous attack.

It did not take that long before he finally slayed the evil dragon, which was immediately followed by a series of system notifications.

*Ding*

System: You have leveled up (x2)

*Ding*

System: You have killed an Evil Dragon; you will receive a hidden special title – Dragon Slayer.

System: You have received the Evil Dragon Core (Dragon Heart) and a tainted fragment of a Divine Apostle.

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You have completed the trial left behind by Altus, the Fifth Envoy of the Church of the Sun and Moon!

System: Calculating the corresponding rewards!

System: Congratulations! You have reached the 100% clear rate! You will be receiving an extra reward!

*Ding*

System: You have leveled up (x2)

*Ding*

System: You have received 15 additional Legacy Points and 20 Skill Points.

System: You have received a mysterious letter.

System: You have received an inheritance item (accessory) – [Ring of the Brilliant Sun]

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You have received the ‘Teachings of the Original Flame’ (Inheritance Knowledge) from the records left behind by the Fifth Envoy Altus.

System: Your understanding and mastery over all light- and fire-related abilities are greatly enhanced.

*Ding*

System: As an extra reward, the ‘Dragon Heart’ and ‘Divine Fragment’ can be refined, fused, and transformed into a new material.

System: Do you want to proceed with the purification process? YES, or NO?

…

Shin was unable to fully process everyone due to the rapid bombardment of the notifications coming from the system.

He was still in the middle of understanding the previous one when another rang in his ears and flashed through his eyes.

Due to this, only the final nonfictions were clearly reflected before his eyes.

“Dragon Heart and Divine Fragment? Ah! It must be the drops left behind by that overgrown lizard,” mumbled Shin as he recalled the descriptions about Kardama earlier.

He hesitated for a moment before deciding to accept the ‘reward’. After all, this was supposed to be a bonus reward, so there must be a meaning behind it.

Whoosh!

Right after he hit the ‘Yes’ button, the two items inside his inventory suddenly disappeared before appearing within a special synthesis panel in front of him.

It then released an intense light as it underwent the purification and combination process before presenting a whole new item to Shin.

There was no surprising feature about this new item, which made him frown deeply.

From the image reflected before him, it seemed to be an ordinary ore or crystal that had an unknown rune engraved at its center.

The first impression that he had gotten from it was nothing but a piece of junk.

But when he opened its information panel, he could not help but rub his eyes as he could not believe what he was seeing.

———————

[Item Name]: Soul Stone (Divine)

[Item Type]: Miscellaneous

[Item Rank]: Divine Material

[Description]:

= A special item that contains a fragment of a divine authority and strong soul power.

= This item can also be used as a container of a soul so long as they do not surpass the Divine Rank.

———————

Shin could not help but have a double-take with this item as he still could not believe what it was.

The first thing that shocked him about it was its rank. No matter how ‘simple’ the description of this item was, the word ‘Divine’ was more than enough to tell Shin the importance of this item.

The other thing that made him react this way was about a certain ‘quest’ that he currently had at pending. The collection of the materials to create his ‘True Phantom’.

“It can’t be, right?” he could only smile bitterly when he saw that it was indeed one of the items that he was looking for.

But instead of an ordinary Soul Stone, it seemed like he had gotten his hands on something that was at Divine Rank.

Lucky was not enough to describe the words that he was currently feeling.

……