Child of Destiny

After consolidating his current state, he slowly opened his eyes. Despite his accidental breakthrough, he was not showing any signs of joy and intensely wore a confused expression on his face.

He turned to David as he asked. “Senior Brother-… what was that just now? Why did I just enter the breakthrough process all of a sudden?”

Hearing that, David could not help but sigh as he spoke. “I am not exactly sure either, but it must be related to Uno. Who knows what he has done when you have just formed your Spiritual Force?”

“Thankfully, it was all successful, or else Master will surely kill me if a real accident happened,” he added, complaining.

He then turned to Shin as he said. “If you want to know more details about it, then you must ask that guy and understand your situation a little more.”

He paused for a moment as he hesitated before sighing. “But I do have some ideas.”

Shin turned to David, waiting for his Senior Brother to explain it further.

David thought for a moment before saying. “One of the reasons might be because of what happened right before you awoke from your deep slumber.”

“At that time, Uno had already met all the requirements for breaking through the Foundation Realm and set one of his feet on reaching the Ascension Realm.”

“But during that time, the other half of the ‘vessel’ that you two are sharing was still far from reaching the next realm, making his realm to be suppressed and remain at the border between the two realms.”

Hearing this, Shin seemed to have also realized something and said. “Because the other half of the main ‘vessel’ is stuck in that pace, all the energies that are accumulated by our body are focused on nurturing the other half of it.”

“Then, adding the completion of my Mentalism Method along with the full awakening of my five innate attributes, the process hastened a bit. Then right after I have completed all the necessary steps for my breakthrough, everything has become fully prepared to move to the next step.”

David nodded as he continued. “You have already completed all the requirements for quite a while now and are only waiting for the right opportunity.”

“Adding the intensive training that we have been doing during the week has hastened the entire process, giving you enough boost for everything.”

“The moment when your five innate attributes have reached their absolute balance, they immediately create an equilibrium that helps you fuse them with one another and form your version of Spiritual Force.”

“A little bit of effort is all you need to proceed to the entire breakthrough process.”

He then paused for a moment before smiling bitterly. “But that troublesome ‘half’ of yourself seems to be looking for some real trouble.”

“Right after you have acquired that piece you need, he pushes you into the entire breakthrough process. This forces you to directly step into the higher stage of your Mentalism Method, skipping through multiple steps.”

He then looked at Shin for a moment before sighing. “With your current state, you will most likely transition into the peak of the Grandmaster Realm in a week or two at most.”

He paused for a moment as he thought of something before continuing. “In the upcoming week, you must focus on consolidating your realm and stabilizing the energies within your body.”

“You must fully transition to this realm naturally to avoid any form of hidden issues. Since you have skipped several steps already, you can’t afford to leisurely skim through everything.”

“No intensive training for you during this period to make sure that you will not hurt your foundation,” he then paused as he hesitated for a moment before continuing. “I’ll consult Master about this later, so be ready to meet her.”

Shin went silent for a moment before sighing. He then nodded his head as he stood up. “I understand.”

Seeing Shin walk away, David could not help but sigh once again and asked. “Are you still-… mad at them?”

Shin halted his tracks for a moment before answering. “It is not like that. I understand the decision they have made at that time, given our situation.”

He paused for a moment as he tried to organize his thoughts before continuing. “I guess it is just disappointment or-… I may be throwing some late tantrums?”

He laughed bitterly for a moment before leaving.

David watched Shin’s back for a while before sighing. He then smiled bitterly as he mumbled to himself. “This family sure has some issues.”

Right after those words left his mouth, he could not help but feel an intense shiver running down his spine.

His eyes turned wide as he felt a sudden premonition. An ominous feeling suddenly overwhelmed him as his head slowly turned to the side like a broken robot.

That was when he saw Evangeline looking at him with a beautiful smile.

David suddenly straightened his back as he greeted her stutteringly. “Mas-… Master!”

Evangeline set aside his earlier words for a moment before asking. “Explain what just happened. Don’t leave any details.”

David nodded his head as he started narrating everything.

…

Later that day, Shin finished the initial stabilization of his realm.

He exhaled deeply before opening his eyes. He thoroughly examined his current state before sighing.

Fortunately, there was nothing wrong with his body.

Earlier, he tried to communicate with Uno, asking what the guy was thinking for pushing him into his current state. Unfortunately, the latter seemed to be refusing his attempts or trying to do something within his mind realm (Sea of Consciousness).

He was not sure what Uno was planning, but Shin could at least feel the urgency of their current situation. This incident seemed to be a way for Uno to warn him about the dangers of the Seed of Hatred within him.

He was aware that the more frequently Uno established a connection with the physical realm, the stronger the corruption of the ‘Seed’ became. It was because of the last outburst that had happened previously when he witnessed Bernad’s death.

Their body was currently in an extremely fragile state, where the seed could easily influence them once a sign of weakness appeared.

He knew that Uno was trying his best to suppress that monster residing within him, especially when the seal that his mother had placed was already becoming less effective.

“Fortunately, we can still somewhat communicate within the game since the virtual world can be considered as the special realm of consciousness, different from the physical realm,” he mumbled with a sigh.

After that, he went to take a quick shower to wash off all the sweat from his body before heading to his gaming cabin.

He lay himself in there for a moment before he logged into the virtual world. “Initiate Login!”

…

Swoosh!

Since there were still a couple of hours before their match against the Earners Mercenary Group started, Shin and the rest of the Empyrean Talons first gathered in their team’s virtual space to make their final preparations.

When he logged in, the rest of the team had already gathered, seemingly waiting for him.

Shin swept his gaze at everyone before nodding his head. He then told them the bad news. “Unfortunately, Siegfried will still not be joining us in this match, so we can only proceed with the arrangement that we have already prepared.”

“We can’t just let him laugh at us later when he returns, right? So, we must do our best for this match and proceed to the next match!”

“We don’t know what those guys have prepared for us in this match, but we can at least rely on our strength and teamwork to break through everything they have!”

He then proceeded to finalize everything before asking them all to simultaneously log in to the game.

…

Swoosh!

Not long after, they all appeared in their private lounge within the game, which was also where they could see the entire virtual venue of their match.

They could see the overwhelming number of players who had brought tickets to watch their match in the live stand and could not help but inhale deeply.

“It is still unbelievable that a lot of people have gathered and will be watching us just for this match,” commented Samael, who was a complete rookie on the team.

Huahua, his sister, did not know what to say as this was her first time seeing such a huge number of people. This made her even more anxious, afraid that she would mess up later and cause their team to lose.

Sensing her anxiety, Cloe walked a little closer to her and said. “There is no need to be too tense.”

She then pointed at the members of the Empyrean Talons while adding. “Our team is quite strong, you know? They will make sure that we win this match!”

Huahua then turned her gaze around and saw that everyone seemed to maintain a good mindset despite seeing such a huge audience. Instead, an overwhelming fighting spirit seemed to be awakened in their eyes, signifying their eagerness to step onto the stage and showcase their powers.

Particularly Shin, Leonard, Diablo, Alucard, and Owen, who seemed to be already getting impatient.

Not long after, the system had suddenly informed them about the start of the match, asking for their permission to be teleported to the battlefield.

Shin smirked as he looked at the virtual screen flashing before him, before saying to the others. “Let’s give them a good show, shall we?”

…