Child of Destiny

Right after appearing on the field, Arthur excitedly surveyed the arena. He was quite eager to fight since this would be his first professional match for quite a while.

His last battle in the professional stage was a couple of months before the release of «Destiny’s Fate» Online. It was not that long for most, but it was still quite a long time when the profession of professional gaming was concerned.

Arthur was full of energy when he appeared on the field, but his enthusiasm suddenly disappeared in almost an instant for two reasons.

The first reason was the appearance of the battlefield.

Since God’s Paradise had the home advantage on this round, they naturally had the right to choose which map to use in the match.

Most of the time, the teams with this advantage used it to the fullest, choosing maps that they were most familiar with. Some even used some complicated maps with special features that could either strengthen their strengths or weaken their opponents.

However, at this moment, Arthur was greeted by an oversimplified map that was usually used in regular matches in the online area – the Gladiator’s Area.

This version was quite huge for half a kilometer wide, but it was still the simplest map without any complicated terrain or special features.

Aside from the ten-meter-tall statue of a knight at the center of the map, no other features were present on the field.

The other reason for Arthur’s disappointment was his current opponent in this match.

“It’s you!? What are you doing on that side? Why are you on that team? And where is Ashura!? He is supposed to fight in this comeback match of mine!” said Arthur in one breath, making the face of his opponent contorted a little.

Little did he know, the opposing side was also quite surprised at his appearance.

“What the heck!? You are still alive!? Why are you representing them now? And why now?” shouted Cetus from the other side, right after seeing Arthur.

With the appearance of this annoying guy, he knew that all the preparations that he had made for the other main forces of the Empyrean Talons had gone to waste.

While Cetus was still trying to readjust his thoughts, he suddenly heard the next annoying words from Arthur.

“The heck! You, a person who only has money and has no skills, can also enter that team? How much have you paid them to get a spot?”

“And don’t you hate being a team? Why are you in such a team now?” Arthur continued to shout from the other side of the map, spitting out a series of insults one after another.

If his words could also deal real damage, then the opposing side would have most likely lost more than half of their health bar at this point, given the amount of emotional damage he had spat out.

Suppressing the intense twitching of his mouth, Cetus immediately refuted. “What about you? How come a ‘free spirit’ like you, who loves to jump from one place to another, settle on an adventurer team now?”

“Aren’t you one of those who look down on having a permanent team or something?” he added as he fixed his grip on his weapon.

Despite the words that he was saying, Cetus also acknowledged that this person was not an easy opponent.

This was the famous Dragon God, after all.

“Heh! This ‘place’ is not your random place out there. This is home,” said Arthur with a smug expression, despite his face being hidden under his dragon helmet.

He then focused his gaze on the equipment of his opponent, activating his unique ocular skill, the Dragon Eyes, and said. “Tsk! Tsk! Still the same. You still love to spend your money on useless things. What a fancy equipment set. How much money did you spend this time?”

He did not even wait for the opposing side to reply, as he quickly added. “It does not matter since it will not make any difference. Whether it is a broom or a vacuum cleaner, their main purpose is almost the same.”

The corner of Cetus’ mouth suddenly twitched when he heard those words. “Is this guy telling me that I am nothing but a fancy cleaning tool?”

“You are still as arrogant as ever. Let me show you how much I’ve changed since the last time you saw me in this stage,” he gritted his teeth before conjuring an array of magic circles behind him and firing a series of magic spells in the next instant.

His race was a Blessed Human. It was nothing but a somewhat special race with little advantage over regular humans in the earlier stages of the game.

It was neither an Ascended Race of an Epic Race, but it had its special features.

One of them was the series of special buffs and stats that were unique to them, while the other was a variety of classes available for them, which also had a lot of potential.

It was just a ‘regular’ special race that the players could find in the early stages of the game. It was unique in those stages, but it did not have a lot of advantages during that time.

However, their true potential only appeared once the Tier 3 Classes and Races were released.

Blessed Human could not be evolved into an Ascended Race or an Epic Race after the individual got promoted to Tier 3 Class. However, they had a unique blessing that could be considered a cheat within the game.

They could earn the skills and acquire the abilities of other classes, so long as they met certain conditions for it.

Aside from that, they could also use the weapons and equipment meet for other classes, complementing those skills and abilities.

What was even more of a cheat about this was the other unique ability that those with this race had. It was the ability to freely reset and change the ability tree that they had built up, so long as they had enough gold in exchange when consulting the class instructor assigned to every regular class.

It was quite costly, but it was worth it if it was meant to counter certain classes and races in the professional and competitive stage of the game.

As for the preparations that Cetus had made to counter Shin and the others, it was naturally the set of skills and abilities that he had learned right before the match.

The theme of his class was ‘Magic Knight’ profession, which could fight with both physical and magical abilities during the battle. Adding the decent defense of the knight class, he was pretty much an all-rounder with his current abilities.

As for the other preparations, they lay on the unique items and special tools that he had bought for this match.

“It does not matter anymore. Since this annoying guy is already here, there is no point in crying over spilled milk,” mumbled Cetus as he charged forward while continuing to send a series of spells toward Arthur’s direction.

Whoosh!

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

In the meantime, Arthur raised his shield after seeing the incoming barrage of spells. He might have said all of that, but he also knew that it was unwise to underestimate this guy in front of him.

After all, Cetus still had quite solid prestige within the game. His Godlike Title was not won by fluke in those tournaments. It was earned in a legitimate way, working from the bottom up to winning a championship with sheer dedication and effort.

If Arthur gave this guy enough window to showcase his skill, then he would pay for it quite dearly.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Right after blocking the first barrage of spells, Arthur covered his entire body with his golden aura, activating his signature Mana Manipulation Technique – the Dragon Power.

Boom!

After the final spell exploded on his shield and around him, he suddenly kicked the ground and propelled himself forward.

Bang!

Swoosh!

During his charge, the aura that was covering his body and the trail that he had left behind turned into a huge golden dragon that opened its mouth wide while breaking through the cloud of dust and smoke produced by the previous explosion.

Roar!

‘True Nine Dragon Arts: Breaking Through of the Golden Dragon’

Seeing the signature move of Arthur, the audience immediately went crazy as they knew that the show had finally started.

Boom!

Not long after, Arthur collided with his opponent, who had already anticipated his move.

“Tsk! Tsk! You have never changed, Siegfried! You still love to use fancy techniques as an opposing move,” said Cetus as he accurately blocked the attack of the opposing side.

“Of course! I am not like you, who only knows how to spend money rather than honing their skills,” responded Arthur with a smirk, continuing with his trash-talking.

Bang!

After that, he pushed the opponent back, forcing Cetus into retreat and not giving them any chance to fire back with their counter trash talk.

……