Child of Destiny

“You have finally arrived.”

Hearing the greeting from the other party, Shin could not help but squint his eyes a little. He now confirmed that this guy had been observing him throughout his time on this floor.

Having this in mind, he immediately used his ‘True Sight’ Skill to know the identity of this Drow.

——————

[NPC Name]: Doran, the Exile

[NPC Title]: The First Drow, The Ruler of the Drows, ???

Race: Stygian (Transcendent Dark Elf)

Class: ???

Level: ???

???

???

——————

Seeing this information panel that was basically filled with blanks and question marks, Shin was finally able to confirm that this guy was the same as ‘Longinus, the Pinnacle’, who was also the head of Mysterious Instructors at the Aurora Continent.

Their status window was basically the same.

He could also tell that the two would be most likely as strong as each other. They would not lose to Phantom King Kentas, Grand Marshall Draco, and Vampire Primogenitor Dracula either, who were the other pinnacle existences that Shin had met within the game.

Those were the few that he could not see through with his limited strength.

Familiar with the current pattern, Shin knew that this must be about some quest or something.

“Junior greets Senior,” greeted Shin, knowing that the opposing party was not showing any kind of hostility.

Doran slightly nodded, acknowledging the greeting, before continuing. “It has been a while since someone has visited this place. A hundred years, perhaps? A Thousand? I can no longer remember.”

“Since you are the first visitor after such a long time, I give you a few special privileges,” he added before looking at Shin. “Before we proceed with the trial, I will help you satisfy your curiosity and answer any questions that I can answer.”

Hearing this, Shin could not help but furrow his brows a little before seizing the opportunity. He knew that the next few floors would most likely not have this kind of service.

“What exactly is this place, Senior?” he asked.

He did have some guesses about it, but he still had doubts. He wanted to clear all of them now that there was someone who could answer his questions.

Doran thought for a moment before answering in return. “Which place are you talking about? Is it the entire Island? Or is it the tower itself?”

Shin paused for a moment before answering. “Both.”

“Alright,” Doran nodded before continuing. “Even though I can tell that you already have some guesses about it, I will help you clear your doubts.”

“This land is the lost land of the Immortal Empire that has vanished during the Repelling Era,” he started.

Shin already knew this due to the information given to him by Molton. However, it was still better to make things clear and confirm such suspicions.

Seeing that Shin was not surprised by what he just revealed, Doran felt that the latter was either ignorant about these matters or already knew about this information.

However, given the calm demeanor that Shin was emitting, Doran leaned more toward the latter.

‘This kid sure is interesting,’ thought Doran before continuing. “I stumbled upon this place by accident after I was thrown by some old monsters in the sea where the four great seas meet.”

“The four seas?” mumbled Shin, trying to recall what he knew about them.

However, Doran seemed to be in a good mood and explained it to him instead. “The Four Great Seas are the Sea of Fog, where people are always lost; the Sea of Death, where all the deadliest monsters of the sea reside; the Sea of Forgotten or most commonly known as the Forgotten Sea, which is said to be the home fallen god that has been forgotten by time; and the lastly, the Sea of Unknown, which is said to be the closest to the edge of the world.”

Shin could not help but fall into deep thought after hearing this. He was familiar with the first three since and even went to two of them.

On the other hand, the fourth sea that Doran had mentioned aroused Shin’s curiosity, especially when it was said to be closest to the edge of the world.

He was not sure what that meant, but he knew that this was going to be an interesting place and worth exploring.

Seeing that Shin had finished digesting his words, Doran asked. “Are you curious about the four great seas?”

Hearing this, Shin could not help but think about a certain title that he had gotten from the Trial of Primordial Waters, the ‘Champion of the Seven Seas’.

He was not sure if the Seven Seas from the setting of that trial were the same as the so-called ‘seas’ of the current era. But he could at least tell that there was something special about them, especially when it was constantly being mentioned on multiple occasions.

Shin shook his head before asking. “I am not really interested in these seas. Rather, I am more curious about Senior and what he is doing at the center of the four seas.”

From what he could tell, places in water where seas or oceans met were extremely dangerous. They had an extremely harsh environment, particularly the waves that they were making.

Just having two seas meeting each other could already create a dangerous environment due to the repeated clashes of waves that they were making, much less four of them.

Shin could already imagine how rough and treacherous the environment in a place where four seas meet.

The clashing waves could produce a much stronger wave, which could also be taller than huge buildings on land. These massive waves, in turn, would generate a powerful wind that could create dangerous weather on top of everything.

Such an environment was not meant for exploration.

Given the words that Doran had said earlier, which he described himself as being thrown in the middle of that place, along with the title that he had on his information panel, Shin could already tell that this guy was some sort of prisoner or something.

In the meantime, that place where the four great seas met was his prison.

Doran might not be able to see the expression that Shin was currently making due to the [Nephilim’s Gemini Mask], but he could at least tell that the latter was able to figure out a bit of his identity with the bit of clues that he had just dropped.

“Your guess is right. I am some old guy in that place to punish my ‘crimes’. That place used to be my prison,” he said while the look on his face suddenly turned serious.

Shin could even feel a dense bloodlust coming from the latter, which almost brought him to his knees.

Fortunately, Doran was able to quickly retract it and return the atmosphere to normal.

However, he could not help but become impressed by Shin, who was able to withstand a hint of his bloodlust, albeit being a tiny drop of what he truly had.

“You are much more amazing than I have anticipated,” he commented before adding. “It seems like coming down here is the right decision.”

Hearing this, Shin finally realized why he felt that there was something wrong with the situation.

Given the strength and background that Doran had, he was not supposed to be in this place. He should be one of the guardians of the higher floors, or even the highest floor of the tower.

“Since you are quite curious about me as well, I will properly introduce myself first before explaining the purpose of this place,” said Doran.

“For most people, I am considered one of the most hideous and scariest criminals of this plane.”

“They said that I have betrayed my kin and become an evil being after I formed a contract with an Ancient Demon to gain the powers that I currently have.” Reaching this point, he could not help but pause, raise his hand, and release extremely dense corrupted powers.

This corrupted power was so dense that it reached a level extremely close to the demonic powers of a True Demon.

Moreover, it also had another form of power mixed in it that made it different from the corrupted powers of the other Corrupted Players or Creatures that Shin had encountered in the game.

It far surpassed the Corrupted Powers that he had seen from Immortal and other Messengers of the Corrupted Cult.

“Ever since the Elemental God has disappeared and cut off ‘His’ connection with us, his descendants and believers, we elves have gotten our blessings from the ‘Mother Tree’ while our elemental powers come from the Elemental Kings of the Spiritual and Elemental Realms.”

“The Dark Elves and Shadow Elves have gotten their elemental powers after receiving the Blessing of the Elemental Kings of Darkness and Shadow, respectively.”

“I am quite a talented elf when it comes to our craft. Unfortunately, I am not gifted when it comes to spirituality, which in turn makes me unable to communicate with the Elemental Entities from the Spiritual and Elemental Realms.”

“In human terms, I am no different from being a cripple. An Elf, who can’t communicate with nature and spirits, is nothing.”

“However, I remain quite skilled in other areas and even surpassed the so-called talented individuals of our tribe, which later made me become one of the brightest geniuses among all elves.”

Doran paused for a moment, seemingly reminiscing about his past glory, before sighing with mixed emotions. “Unfortunately, my talent has become a target of jealousy, which has led to multiple disasters.”

With a lonely and helpless sigh, he continued. “Is it wrong to be born talented yet also incapable at the same time?”

……