Child of Destiny

…

“Just like what I have said earlier – that girl truly died during that time, but not completely. It is a trick that not only fools everyone but her body as well.”

“Her body truly died for a couple of seconds during that time, but Troy immediately cast a mystic spell on her to let her body remain in suspended animation until the embryonic form of her Seed of Hatred fully disappeared before reviving her once again.”

“After that, your father sealed all her memories, preventing any shock caused by the conflict that they could bring to her.”

“If they are just those memories return right after all the trouble, then that Seed of Hatred will only return in an even stronger form, wasting all their efforts.”

Evangline continued to narrate the next course of events.

At this point, Shin finally could not hold himself back and asked. “Where is she now, Mom?”

Evangeline stared at him for a while before answering. “She has been staying under Mom’s care since that time. She has also become my disciple.”

Shin opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but he was immediately interrupted by his mother before he could even say a word. “No, you can’t meet her right now.”

“She is still far from having a firm will to face her past. We must avoid any form of accidents that can put her at serious risk.”

“She was also aware of her condition since we have never hidden it from her. But she also chooses not to face her past self yet since she understands all the risks that come along with it,” she added, denying any form of plea from her son.

“You can meet her when the time is right,” she assured her son.

…

The mother and son duo chatted for a bit longer before Shin finally went with another topic. “Mom, there is this game that is causing sensation around the world and even attracting the attention of a lot of organizations.”

“They say that there is a secret hidden within it,” he added before turning toward his mother. “They also said that I can learn the truth once I have broken through and reached the Peak of the Grandmaster Realm.”

“I’ve tried asking Senior Brother, but he said that it is better to hear the truth from you since you are directly related to it to some extent.”

Evangeline went silent for a moment before sighing. She then nodded while answering. “That’s right.”

Pausing for a moment, she smiled at Shin before continuing. “But this is going to be quite a long story. How about we have your brunch for now?”

“Let your Mom experience your cooking skills. I’ve heard from your Senior Brother that you are quite a good cook.”

“Ah!” Shin finally realized the time, not knowing that quite a few hours had already passed. He had even missed his morning training.

He then nodded and stood. “Okay. I’ll let Mom taste my cooking then.”

…

“It seems like my son has grown quite well. Not only have you grown so handsome, but also quite good at cooking as well,” commented Evangeline with satisfaction after tasting the food that Shin had prepared for her. “How about cooking for mom starting today? I will not mind getting fat for your cooking.”

She paused for a moment as she watched Shin busied himself cleaning the dining table and washing the dishes afterward. She could not help but tease a bit more. “Good a chores, what a perfect husband material at such a young age.”

“I heard that you are also good at music and singing. No wonder that my son is so popular,” she smiled while pointing at the piano that suddenly came out of nowhere.

’Why do I feel that she has been anticipating it for a long time?’ thought Shin before sighing. “May next time, Mom.”

…

Not long after, the pair of mother and son went back to the living room and continued chatting.

“You want to know the secrets about that game?” smiled Evangline as she started. “It is quite a long story.”

“Where should I start?” she mumbled before turning back at her son. “All everyone knows is that your father has put the secrets of the world that those greedy old people in that game.”

“But that is only a part of it.”

“All they know is he transformed these secrets into data and mixed them into the inputs of that game that everyone is crazy for.”

…

“Starting from the locations of the inheritances and legacies of the ancient era, the era before that, and even further that, your father and I have found them all along with some of our friends.”

“This is one of the reasons why we are being chased by those guys.”

She then paused briefly before smiling bitterly. “But that is all they know and what they care for. They don’t care about the consequences of learning those records and the truths behind them.”

“All they are after are the inheritances and legacies of the powerful figures of the past, along with the relics, treasures, and anything that they have left behind.”

“Little did they know that the consequences that come after it is something much horrifying than what they are expecting.”

She then sneered while continuing. “They will only be ending this world much faster the moment they learned about the truth.”

She turned to her son as she continued. “Son, this world is cursed and dying, and it is hiding the truth from everyone. And whoever learns the truth even further beyond that will be cursed.”

“Your father and I, along with our group of friends, have learned the so-called ’Truth of the Beyond’ during a certain expedition.”

“We have learned what is truly happening in the world and the conspiracies that the ’Heaven’ has. But in return, we are cursed for learning this forbidden knowledge.”

“Your father and I are special, making us able to withstand the curse and even fight against it. However, our friends are not so lucky. They all have been cursed and slowly dying in exchange for that forbidden knowledge.”

“We have tried everything we can to stop the curse, but it is too powerful. It was a curse from Heaven after all.”

She then paused briefly, recalling those desperate times. “It is also at that moment that your father has thought something.”

“He said-… since the curse is caused by learning the forbidden knowledge, why not erase that knowledge from their memories?”

“We then formulate a plan before proceeding to erase the forbidden knowledge from their memories.”

With a sigh, she continued. “But despite all the trouble and everything that we have gone through, all those greedy foxes only care about what we have learned from the expedition when we come back to report.”

“And when they learned that your father and I had erased the memories, the first thing that they thought was that we are hiding something from them and refuse the share the ’benefits’ that we have gotten from that place.”

“They all believe that whatever we have learned from that place is a powerful legacy from a very powerful being of the ancient era or prehistoric era.”

“They refuse to believe everything we say, so your father has no choice but to play the role of the villain to save our friends.”

“Starting that day, another reason was added why the World Government is chasing after us, specifically your father,” she added with a bitter smile.

Shin listened attentively, especially when this was his first time hearing the stories about his parents.

He also waited patiently until his mother finished reminiscing about the past.

Evangeline turned her son and continued. “Your father and I have spent years trying to find a way to get rid of the curse.”

“Your father then later got his answer from a very ancient ruin. In that ruin, he has seen the words of a great sage – ’The Heaven is greedy and jealous, but it still has to follow the order, or it will perish’. That is why it must maintain the balance and be fair to everyone.’”

“The rules that it has established have become its flaw and weakness.”

“He said that since Heaven is also restricted by the rules, why not use it against itself?” She smiled before continuing. “Your father then started formulating a grand plan.”

“Since Heaven wants to hide the forbidden knowledge from everyone by cursing anyone who learns about it, why not let everyone learn about the truth itself?”

“At that time, Heaven will also be powerless since it can’t interfere directly, since it will also perish once it has cursed the entire humanity just to hide this truth.”

“But we also have to be meticulous with everything, only letting everyone learn about this ’truth’ without them knowing that it is forbidden knowledge. We have to impart the knowledge to everyone naturally while following the rules of Heaven.”

Shin immediately figured out where it was heading. “Then Mom and Dad come up with the plan of putting this forbidden knowledge into the game!”

Evangeline nodded. “That’s right. That is our plan.”

“But we also must be careful of it, which is why we have divided this knowledge into smaller parts before mixing them with other information. We then transform the data, planning to mix them with the quests within a game.”

“It also has to be not just an ordinary game, but the most famous one at that,” she emphasized before adding. “But our first attempt is not with the current famous game, but with the one that was released almost three years ago.”

Shin seemed to have realized something and blurted out with wide-open eyes. “The «True Era» Online!”

Evangeline nodded. “That’s right. It seems to be the name of that game.”

Shin then suddenly recalled something about the incidents that happened in that game, making him frown deeply. “But something happened during that time. They said that it even affected the real world, throwing the game into chaos and leading to its end.”

He was immediately enlightened and realized the truth that had transpired in that game and why it had affected the real world too much.

Evangline smiled helplessly and bitterly as she answered. “That’s right. We failed at that time as well.”

“It is because two of our friends have betrayed us and leaked the information to other organizations.” A flash of sadness appeared in her eyes, clearly showing that the betrayal had hurt her.

She then moved on and continued. “We have done our second attempt with the current game that the World Gaming Organization has launched.”

“We made a deal with the chairman of the gaming company. They want to use some data from us to model a few NPCs within the game while we input the data in our hands into their game.”

“Learning from our past mistakes, we have also done everything more meticulously.”

“Since everyone is hell bent in believing that the ’truth’ that we are hiding is about the legacies and inheritances, treasures and relics, and forbidden and sacred lands in the real world, we have taken the initiative to mix the broken parts of the forbidden knowledge with all the information that we have about all these things before inputting them into the game.”

“We have mixed the truth with another truth to trick everyone while also avoiding the gaze of Heaven.”

“Even if the people learn about them, they will only think about these legacies and inheritances, overlooking the pieces of forbidden knowledge that they have learned.”

“This ’truth’ will then spread by being treated as some sort of background lore of the game, saving them from the curse of Heaven despite learning about it.”

She then sneered and continued. “We then purposely leaked the information to the higher-ups of all the organizations around the world, preventing them from causing the same trouble from our previous attempt.”

“These powerful organizations were not fools either. They knew that they must take it a bit slower and more patiently to prevent the disaster from two years ago from happening once again.”

“Moreover, the chairman of the World Gaming Organization, which is behind the development of the game, is not a simple person either.”

“Along with his Super AI, Chronos, he has absolute control over the fate of the game. If something happens to him, then Chronos will shut down all the servers of the game and destroy all the data, preventing anyone from benefiting from it.”

“This is the reason why no one dares to trouble the World Gaming Organization despite learning about all these, and even protects it against other organizations with evil intentions.”

“Even the World Government and the Shadow Alliance, which are the biggest powers of the world, don’t dare to carelessly touch this gaming company,” she added with a smile, seemingly proud of her husband’s wits, who orchestrated everything.

Then her expression suddenly turned a bit more serious as she added. “But things are always changing.”

“There are still some people who are too greedy and want to take everything for themselves. They have started taking more drastic measures to claim the information that we have hidden within the game.”

“Fortunately, the Elder’s Council is also starting to make their moves under our warnings.”

She then turned to her son and said with a serious tone. “Son, do you want to learn what this forbidden knowledge is? Then continue playing the game, and you will know the truth at the right time.”

“I can tell you about this, but isn’t it more fun to learn it yourself?”

“Don’t worry about being cursed. Even if you learn about the truth, nothing will happen to you.”

“You are the son of the Heavenly Demon and the Celestial Phoenix after all. Even the Heavens can’t do anything against us, much less you, who have inherited everything from the two us.”

……