Child of Destiny

Fortunately, the system was not as ruthless as everyone thought it would be.

They had been given a whole hour to recover from the fatigue of the previous trail. Even though it was far from enough to fully recover their peak state, it was a huge help for those who had exhausted themselves during those intense battles.

Arthur would somewhat recover a bit of his concentration and energy with this full hour of rest.

…

While resting, each side was already making its respective preparations for the upcoming trial.

Based on what the system had given them, this fifth and final trial would be a royal rumble between all sides.

It would be a chaotic battle between all the participating parties.

Moreover, the system had also given each side their respective verdict according to their overall standings.

Among all the parties, Chaotic Luck and the side of the Heavenly Resto-Bar were the only ones who were able to retain their numbers for the upcoming trial.

Chaotic Luck was a single person, so he would not have any issue with it, especially when his accumulated points ranked right above everyone else aside from his allied group.

There was also the side of Heavenly Resto-Bar, which had earned the highest number of points after all the previous trials.

This alone was more than enough to put them at a great advantage for the upcoming trial.

As for the other parties, they were quite lucky to still having too members to represent themselves for the upcoming trial.

The Hydra Guild had already expected this to happen. They were already prepared for such an outcome, which was why Boa decided to send Viper, Echis, and Anaconda out of the dungeon and head back to the headquarters.

The two of them should be enough to handle the final trial, especially when they were also experts when it came to handling poisons.

For the side of the Dragon Pavilion, Earrusall was supposed to be one of the representatives. Unfortunately, he had spent quite a lot of energy from the previous battle against Arthur.

The battle had cost him quite a lot as well, which further discouraged him from continuing. He had also used most of his trump cards during that battle, especially the skills with extremely long cooldowns.

He would not be able to showcase his full capabilities in the next round, which was why he had decided to take a step back and let Luminous Dragon lead.

In the next round, they had chosen Luminous Dragon and Tyrant Dragon to be their representative for the final battle.

Berserk Dragon was a good choice as well. But given his earlier performance and his fiery temper, choosing him for this round would put them at a great disadvantage.

After all, this guy also held a grudge quite bitterly, so sending him to the final trial would only let him target the members of the Black Market.

That would be unwise.

Little Dragon also did not say anything up until now, especially after his ‘personal’ bodyguard was defeated by one of the people that he hated the most.

In the meantime, the members of the Black Market had obviously decided to send Gunner for the final trial. After all, he was the current branch manager, so no one would dare to question his decisions.

As for the other member, he had chosen Lawrence, the Poison Master. In his eyes, this kid had a lot of uses for the next round, especially after seeing his performance from the previous trial.

Alongside his deep knowledge when it came to poisons and venoms, Lawrence was a perfect choice for him.

Moreover, their mission was still to gather more information about this place rather than securing the inheritance left behind by Dark King Tang Hyeon.

After all, it was nothing but a virtual copy of the original. The one that they were truly after was the information that they could get from this place.

It was more useful for them than the virtual copy of the inheritance.

This copy was still something important for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, their chances of getting it were quite slim, which was something that they had already expected. After all, they were already aware that the opposing sides were fully prepared for this operation.

Fortunately, they had encountered Lawrence right before they headed here, which gave them a new goal.

They just hope that all the investments that they had poured into this guy would not go to waste.

…

While everyone was making their respective arrangements, someone was watching everything happening here from a certain place in the real world.

[Ah~! This is getting boring. Can we just kill them altogether? It is not like they will be able to pass the true trial anyway.] said a domineering voice deep within the darkness.

Rumble! Rumble!

Strong vibrations repeatedly shook the surroundings whenever this entity spat out a word from its mouth.

[I am getting hungry anyway. These guys will do even if they can barely fill the gaps between my teeth.]

The voice added.

There was silence for a while before an old voice suddenly rang throughout the darkness. “You have just woken up, yet you are already looking for trouble, Xiao Bai.”

“Do you think it is easy for me to look for a suitable successor?” added the old voice.

[Hmph! With these little ones? From what I can see, no one is worthy of them to take your mantle!]

The old voice chuckled in response. “But we don’t have a choice. Moreover, it is useless since they are somewhere we can’t reach.”

[Aren’t they supposed to be coming here, anyway?] refuted by the domineering voice.

“It is, but it will have to take some time,” replied the old voice before returning to their original topic. “Talking about these little ones, it is not like none of them has the potential to become the next Dark King.”

“You must remember. I am much more terrible than they were before I reached my peak,” added the old voice.

The domineering voice went silent for a while before continuing. [There are only two who have decent potential, but none of them are compatible with your inheritance.]

The old voice did not immediately respond, seemingly contemplating something.

After a while, it finally sounded once again. “Are you sure about it? How come that I find a decent candidate before our eyes?”

[Hmph! Are you talking about that little hatchling? He is too immature to take on your mantle.]

“But he is using a decent method derived from mine,” refuted the old voice before adding. “I wonder where he has learned it.”

In the next moment, the tone of the old voice suddenly turned sharp and cold. “On the other hand, these little ones with a similar method seem to have taken a wrong turn.”

“Mixing dark methods with poison arts? I wonder if they are spawns of those anomalies,” added the old voice with its owner seemingly glaring in a certain direction.

Boom!

A loud explosion erupted, further shaking the entire place.

[Should we deal with them now?]

This time, the already domineering voice was suddenly filled with killing intent.

Unfortunately, the answer that was waiting did not come. The owner of the old voice seemed not to agree. “As I said, it is useless.”

“I don’t know what kind of sorcery the current era is using to create such an independent and magical world, but it is quite fascinating.”

“Unfortunately, my remnant spirit can’t enter that space,” the old voice added with some regret.

A moment later, the tone of the old voice became cold and sharp once again. “However, since these guys appeared, they will surely come after my true inheritance later.”

“We should prepare a proper welcome for them later. After all, a guest is a guest regardless of whether they are invited or not.”

“How we treat them is the only thing that makes them different from one another,” added the old voice.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

A moment later, a series of heavy footsteps could be heard from the depths of the darkness before appearing before the projector that was displaying the events within the game.

Then an old man with an extremely well-built body was slowly revealed from the shadows.

His age was clearly reflected by the long strands of white hair, beard, and mustache. However, the build of his body did not show any signs of oldness at all. If ever, he looked more like a man of his prime with such a build.

He was wearing an ancient robe used by great leaders of the great old era while both his arms and legs were wrapped with bandages, only exposing his fingers and toes.

Hiss!

Behind him, a pair of huge eyes suddenly opened, flashing through the darkness.

Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!

A moment later, a humongous snake with snow-white scales slowly revealed itself behind this old man.

“It seems like time is surging once again.”

…