Child of Destiny

Shin remained silent.

His gaze lingered on the dozens of Elemental Anomalies standing between him and the small ritual altar in the distance.

Their grotesque forms were no different from before—twisted limbs, shattered bodies, distorted shadows that seemed to consume the very mana around them.

Each one radiated an existence that instinctively repelled all life.

However, after hearing Hanzo’s explanation, Shin could no longer see them the same way. They were no longer merely horrifying monsters blocking his path, nor were they simply creatures born into the world.

They were scars—fragments—the severed wounds of an ancient existence desperately struggling against a corruption it could no longer contain.

Each anomaly represented a piece of itself that it had been forced to abandon. Each grotesque body was another desperate attempt to keep its true self alive.

Shin slowly tightened his grip around the [Yamato].

Behind those terrifying appearances, he no longer saw monsters. He saw an Ancient Elemental Being silently reaching out for help.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

As if sensing the subtle change in Shin’s emotions, two streaks of black light flew out from the Reaper’s Realm.

Neither of them took their humanoid form. Instead, they remained as two floating specks of light that quietly circled him.

One was pitch-black. Not the kind of darkness born from the absence of light, but the endless abyss itself. It seemed to be capable of swallowing everything around.

The other shared similar color, yet its existence appeared strangely unstable. Its silhouette constantly flickered between reality and illusion, fading in and out of existence as though it occupied multiple layers of space at once.

They were Blackie and Grimrace.

The two circled Shin several times before Blackie finally floated in front of him.

Her cold yet gentle voice soon sounded inside his mind. ”Allow me to lend you my strength, My Lord.”

Shin smiled faintly. But before he could respond, however-…

”Hmph!”

A cold, disdainful snort came from the other speck of darkness.

Grimrace deliberately turned away, as though he had no interest whatsoever in the conversation.

Seeing the familiar reaction, Shin could only chuckle helplessly. ”This nutjob-… he’s acting out of character again.”

Among all the contracted Elemental Spirits under his command, Grimrace was undoubtedly the most troublesome.

Back when he was still an Abomination Elemental Spirit, causing chaos among the group seemed to be second nature for him.

He challenged anyone he disliked and provoked anyone he found interesting, especially with the intention of devouring them.

He also liked to always clash against Vladimir during their earlier days. But strange enough, the two now seemed to have teamed up, challenging the other elemental spirits he had contracted with.

This Eldrich Psychic Spirit seemed to have never changed. But the current situation seemed to have urged it to make its move.

Shin then suddenly shifted toward the other side.

Blackie was once one of Shin’s tiger pets, the ones that he had gotten in the earlier stages of the game.

She then eventually evolved into a Special Elemental Spirit alongside Whitie, after a series of opportunities that he had stumbled upon, especially after absorbing the elemental core that he had gotten after defeating Immortal during his first usage of Godly Challenge Rights.

She then further evolved into an ’Abysmal Penumbra Spirit’ after a few more opportunities along the way.

The two spirits hovered quietly before him. Neither spoke again, nor needed to. Their intention was already clear.

They wanted to fight alongside him against the enemy that even the ancient spirits regarded as an existential threat.

*Ding*

Right at the same time, Shin had suddenly received a notification from the system.

System: A Special Quest Scenario has been triggered!

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[Quest Name]: The Last Lament of the Primordial Guardian

[Quest Type]: Hidden Historical Quest

[Quest Difficulty]: Chaos (Potential World Event)

[Quest Background]:

Long before the birth of kingdoms, races, and civilizations...

There existed another world.

The Elemental World.

It was the birthplace of all elemental life, ruled by the mysterious Elemental God.

The Ancient Elemental Beings were among its first inhabitants, possessing authorities that stood at the very pinnacle of elemental existence.

Not even the current generation of Elemental Kings, Elemental Monarchs, or Supreme Elementals could withstand their presence.

Some ancient records even described them as fragments of the Elemental God itself.

However, after the disappearance of the Elemental God, the Elemental World eventually fragmented.

Some of its remnants became independent Secret Realms, while others merged with countless worlds, giving birth to the modern generation of Elemental Spirits.

One such Ancient Elemental Being now lies imprisoned behind an ancient gate.

For unknown reasons, an unidentified existence has begun corrupting the primordial guardian from within.

To prevent the corruption from reaching its core, the Ancient Elemental Being has started tearing away the infected portions of its own body and soul.

Those severed fragments have twisted into Elemental Anomalies—creatures that instinctively devour the world’s Essence.

Though weakened by the corruption, the Ancient Elemental Being continues to resist with everything it has.

Perhaps...

It is still waiting for someone capable of hearing its silent plea.

[Quest Trigger]:

The determination of your contracted Elemental Spirits has resonated with the imprisoned Ancient Elemental Being.

Its fading consciousness has acknowledged your existence.

[Quest Condition]:

-Find the source of the corruption.

-Prevent the complete corruption of the Ancient Elemental Being.

-Purify the imprisoned primordial guardian.

[Quest Rewards]:

-Favor of the Ancient Elemental Being.

-Evolution opportunity for your contracted Elemental Spirits.

-Opportunity for Blackie to further evolve into a Named Elemental Spirit.

-Ancient Elemental Legacy (For Elemental Spirit Only).

-Unknown rewards based on the outcome.

[Quest Penalty]:

Should the Ancient Elemental Being become fully corrupted...

The primordial guardian shall lose its final sanity.

The seal shall break.

A Corrupted Ancient Elemental Being will descend upon the world, while the surrounding lands are consumed by Elemental Anomalies.

World Consequence: Permanent alteration of the world’s history.

---------------------------

Shin immediately froze after skimming through the entire quest panel.

The sudden appearance of a quest was not particularly surprising given the current circumstances.

This was not the first time he had triggered such huge quests through a chain of unexpected events. More importantly, the quest itself had clearly been initiated by the resonance between his contracted Elemental Spirits and the imprisoned Ancient Elemental Being.

In a sense, this could even be considered an Elemental Spirit Quest.

It was a special type of quest that every few players had ever encountered. These quests usually concerned the history, emotions, or growth of the contracted Elemental Spirits rather than the player alone.

Shin had triggered quite a few of them during his adventures within the game, particularly Astaroth and Vladimir. Even Grimrace had partially had one as well.

But this was not what stunned Shin. His gaze remained fixed at the single line displayed on the translucent panel.

[Quest Difficulty]: Catastrophic (Potential World Event)

The words seemed to be almost unreal.

”Potential World Event?” His breathing unconsciously slowed.

Among all the quest classifications in «Destiny’s Fate» Online, the suffix attached to a quest often carried far greater significance than the shown difficulty itself.

It represented the scale of its consequences most of the time.

A World Quest was an existence that stood one entire tier above an Empire Quest.

Just recalling the amount of manpower, preparation, and sacrifices required to complete an ordinary Empire Quest was enough to make anyone’s scalp tingle.

Of course, monstrous players like Shin and the others were somewhat of an exception.

An Empire Quest usually involved the fate of a Kingdom or an Empire. Sometimes, even a huge portion of the continent itself.

A failure would commonly involve the destruction of an entire kingdom or empire. It would slaughter countless NPC territories and permanently alter regional history.

However, Shin was currently starting at something that may lead to an even more terrifying consequence.

A quest capable of influencing the fate of the entire world.

”This is insane!” His expression gradually became incredibly solemn.

Given all these, Shin’s instincts were to skip past the rewards altogether and look at the quest penalty instead.

As he read through the contents, his pupils visibly contracted behind his mask.

He when in deep silence after reading the consequences of failure. The expression on his face behind the mask could not help but contort.

”F*ck!” A curse suddenly escaped from his mouth almost instinctively.

He then looked at the dozens of Elemental Anomalies before him, imagining them roaming through the land and creating chaos.

This then reminded him of the current war happening at the Dark Cloud Kingdom, which was the main battlefield between the Righteous Churches and Evil Faction at the moment.

”...This really is comparable to the Demonic Invasion those lunatics from the Pandemonium Descendants triggered...” he mumbled after a long time.

He immediately felt the serious gravity of the situation.

In front of such serious consequences, Shin had overlooked all the rewards laid before him.

Tilting his head to the side, he could not help but mumble to himself. ”This is not just going to be troublesome. Tsk! Tsk!”

...