Child of Destiny

Rumble!

Not long after, David felt that the entire isolation barrier tremble. From what he could tell, it was being destroyed by the faculty members, who had finally realized what was happening.

With a sigh, he left while carrying Wade. “Why are such people always late?”

***

In the meantime, Professor Henry was currently standing on the highest floor of the World Research Center, while looking at a certain part of the campus, which was also where a little incident had taken place.

Benedict was also standing right behind the old professor, bowing respectfully. “With this, it has been confirmed that the Demon’s Eyes Wade possessed is a part of the Project Savant.”

“However, it is clearly a modified version, which is also solely tailored for Wade. Replicating it would be extremely challenging, which is why these people are trying to seize it from him,” he added.

Professor Henry kept his silence for quite a while, seemingly thinking about something else, before waving his hand. “That should be it for now. You can leave now and help the others capture those moles that are trying to run.”

“Make sure to capture them alive as much as possible. We still have to find out who our main perpetrator is behind all these.”

“I refuse to believe that it is Jan Mateo alone,” he added, feeling that there must be a huge storm looming throughout the continent once again.

People’s dreams are never-ending. However, too much of it will become a poison, becoming greed and obsession,” he mumbled alongside a deep and helpless sigh.

***

The entire academy was alerted once again. However, everyone seemed to be quite prepared this time.

Right after getting the signal, they started hunting down the spies who were trying to run away. They all seemed to be marked by something, making them easier to identify.

The faculty members of the academy and the strongest members of the elite clubs were working together to deal with the situation.

This operation might be sudden, but they were already trained how to respond to it since the last time the academy was ambushed.

Some of the higher-ups seemed to have set up this trap to clean their ranks, making sure to find and eliminate all the moles hiding in their academy.

They all knew that it was impossible to thoroughly clean the academy since there were quite a few tricky spies to deal with, but they would at least limit the number of these moles, which would also restrict their actions in the future.

Not only within the academy, but the entirety of Ace City was currently under thorough cleaning.

The higher-ups of the academy had targeted those who suspiciously tried to invite them for a drink or a chat, which perfectly coincided with the current situation.

Every person who was involved was put under suspicion, catching them off guard.

For those who were guilty, they could not help but think that they had fallen into such a trap that had been prepared for quite a while now.

***

While all these were happening, the main culprits of the supposed operation were currently chatting with each other.

“I do not expect you to sacrifice all your people just for a little ‘reunion’ with your ‘old friend’,” said Diel Hendrickson, who was playing on his own.

Behind him stood Falcon Hawkins, who was Diel’s personal attendant and loyal knight. He was standing while eyeing the three people across from him.

Jean Camus was sitting on the sofa across Diel, leaning his back on it and looking at the ceiling. “That is what the elders have instructed. They said that we have to flush out the useless pieces that are overflowing the board, so I can only go with the fastest method that I can think of.”

Standing behind him were Thomas Brooks and Simone Bartolomeo, who were also glaring sharply at Falcon Hawkins and Diel Hendrickson.

Ignoring their glares, Diel suddenly asked. “Do our people include in that? Do you have any idea how many of our people are caught because of this?”

Jean smirked when he heard this and said. “As if you have not received a similar order. You are just taking advantage of my place, which is why you have taken the initiative to sell those people out.”

“Speaking about convenience, don’t you think?” he added before lowering his head and casting his gaze at the latter.

There was an intense tension filling the air, which Falcon, Thomas, and Simone had perceived as a heated exchange between the two young masters.

The two were preparing for a battle when Jean suddenly laughed out loud and added. “There is no need to be too serious about this.”

“Both of us know why our elders have decided to get rid of those spies. Most of them have already been identified and are under the close watch of the academy, making them useless for our organizations.”

“It is better to take the initiative and get rid of them early before those sly foxes from the academy use them against us,” he added while leaning forward and looking at the ongoing game that Diel was playing.

After a while, he took the initiative to pick up a piece and moved it, seemingly planning to continue the play.

Diel did not say anything about it and played the next move before speaking. “I know that you are trying to take advantage of us when you have accepted my proposal previously, so I have to respond in kind, don’t you think?”

“After all, we are still far from fully trusting each other,” he added.

Jean took the next move while answering. “I have already brought your people with us to the Bug Realm, so it is only natural for you to carry out the end of your bargain.”

***

Swoosh!

In the meantime, Shin had no idea of what was happening outside, especially when he just logged back into the game and returned to the Tower of Inheritance.

However, when he entered, the familiar desert was no longer present. Instead, a dense and eerie jungle appeared in his surroundings.

He was currently in a different environment, which meant that he had already passed the trials from the first floor of the tower and was currently on the second floor.

“It is a different setting this time, huh?” he mumbled while sweeping his eyes at the surroundings.

He just cleared the trials on the first floor last night.

The trials had indeed required him to fully master all the skills under the Phantom Swordsman Class, especially its core techniques and special applications.

He also fully mastered the Mirage Sword in the process, making his current combat prowess reach extreme heights.

The mirage sword extremely complements these styles of swordsmanship, particularly the Phantom Swordsmanship.

The Phantom Swordsmanship focused more on elusive and swift actions. It was filled with realistic illusions, extreme speed, and multi-directional attacks.

It was slightly different from most of the known styles of swordsmanship, especially when the standard way of the sword was righteous and straightforward.

The Phantom Assassination, on the other hand, followed the standard way of assassination techniques. It was sneaky, swift, and unpredictable.

However, it also followed the principle of Mirage Sword, which was filled with illusion and multi-directional attacks.

It also had a bunch of hidden features that he could use to enhance his stealth techniques and abilities, turning him into a ‘part-time’ assassin.

By combining these two and utilizing the phantoms and ghosts that Shin could generate through his newly found movement techniques, he was finally able to comprehend the true essence of being a Phantom Swordsman.

Of course, he still had yet to fully comprehend all the mysteries of this class, particularly when it came to the things related to true mirages and live phantoms.

Looking around, Shin could at least give a rough guess at what the tower wanted him to do here. “Pretty clever, huh?”

If the first floor was meant for him to discover the abilities of a Phantom Swordsman, then the second floor was most likely meant for honing these skills and abilities, making it truly his.

He naturally understood what kind of assignment he would be having, particularly when he was put in such an environment.

“A Stealth and Assassination Training this time?” mumbled Shin after examining his surroundings.

He could also feel quite a few powerful existences scattered in different parts of the forest, which seemed to be purposely announcing their presence and telling everyone that these areas were their respective territories.

“Given their auras, they should be at least as strong as the Sand General from the first floor or even slightly stronger,” he could at least have a rough idea of their respective strength.

He knew that this was going to be quite troublesome, especially when his targets of assassination would be as skilled in martial arts as that Sand General.

“Well, this is going to be a useless trial if the targets are simple opponents,” he shrugged his shoulder before picking a random target and walking in that direction.

He wanted to see what kind of trials would be waiting for him this time.

……