Child of Destiny

...…

Shin stared at the newcomer with caution as he could tell that the opposing party was most likely on the same tier as him, especially with that kind of aura.

Seeing that Shin was looking at him, the mysterious player suddenly gestured. "Don't mind me. I am just here because of my curiosity."

"If you can pique my interest more, then I may as well wait for my turn as I prefer fighting you without any hindrances."

Shin raised his brows in doubt when he heard those words. But for some unknown reason, he found this guy quite trustworthy. He became quite curious about this player due to this.

On the other hand, the first person to find Shin felt offended when he saw that he was being ignored by the two. He was also an expert himself, but it seemed like he was being ignored as if he were a random mob.

"Do not underestimate me," enraged, he quickly charged at Shin.

He disappeared and reappeared in front of Shin in an instant. His dagger was already extending forward and about to reach its target.

There was a dark aura shrouding the blade of the dagger, indicating that he knew an advanced technique of manipulating his energy and the surrounding mana.

But right before it reached its target, Shin's figure suddenly flickered before slowly fading away.

The next instant, this assassin suddenly felt a tingling sensation at the back of his head, giving him an idea of what was about to happen.

Without any hint of hesitation, he instantly used a lifesaving skill and disappeared. He then reappeared behind Shin and brandished his dagger once again.

But Shin did the same thing, disappearing and reappearing for another time and attacking the opposing party with the same pattern but a different angle.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

This process was repeated a few more times before Shin paused across the other party. He stood in silence while observing this particular assassin.

He must admit that he was not expecting that this mysterious player could match him in terms of speed and reaction speed. Moreover, he also needed to admit that this guy was in the third tier of his class.

It was not that noticeable earlier, but Shin realized that this person was not as simple as it seemed. However, he was not as threatening as the person watching them fight.

Knitting his brows, Shin used his 'True Sight' and realized that this person was someone who could be easily overlooked, but also possessed a deadly venom.

This player perfectly resembled a venomous snake camouflaging itself in a dense forest.

"King of the Darkness, the Maverick God Umbra," muttered Shin as he read the name of the latter. He was one of the top experts that Shin had taken note of when reading the information about the players that he had to keep his eye on.

He was a member of the Supreme Temple, and was one of the top candidates for being the next 'Sword'. However, he never passed the final exam when it mattered. He always failed when he was about to reach the final step.

It might be his terrible luck, or it was because he was purposely being targeted by someone within the faction. But all of it led to him being unable to take the final step.

Closely observing the opposing side, Shin slowly shook his head before saying. "I suggest you do not bother me unless you are confident enough to face Zero alone. Or else you will never be able to fight me even in your best form."

Umbra was surprised at first since he was not expecting Shin to know his identity.

They might have exchanged for a couple of times earlier, but that was not enough to expose his identity, especially when he was purposely hiding his personal combat techniques and unique fighting style.

This could only mean that Shin was able to see through his disguise even though he was wearing a top-class cloak within the organization.

This could only mean that Shin possessed ocular and observation skills that surpassed his items and abilities. This could also mean that the latter was able to see through his disguise and stealth skills.

With a gloomy expression on his face, Umbra glares at Shin while mumbling. "Who are you?"

Given the clues that he was seeing, it was quite clear that this person was not someone he could easily provoke. It was somewhat within his expectations, especially when Shin had killed a monster that the current players were not supposed to defeat.

But from what he could see, Shin seemed to have surpassed the majority of the player base by a great margin.

From what he could guess, there were only a very few people who could reach this level, and most of them stood at the very peak of the virtual world.

Shin smirked when heard that, especially when he knew what was running inside the head of the other party.

"You can try guessing that," he said while smiling.

Hearing that, Umbra suddenly got an urge to charge forward. But he suppressed it forcefully, especially when he could not tell that the other party was trying to provoke him.

He had to keep his calm when facing an expert of this level as a single and most negligible mistake would lead to a grave one.

While staring cautiously at Shin, he realized that this person was not someone that he could brush off like everyone else.

Someone who could mutter Zero's name as casually as that would be not a small fry, especially with the tone that Shin had used.

On the other hand, the other person, who remained silent the entire time and watched them with full of amusement from the sidelines, could not help but smile in satisfaction.

With those simple yet quick exchanges, this person was able to get a rough idea of how strong Shin could be. Even he, a top Godlike Player himself, was not confident that he would be able to take down Shin without showing his true strength.

Shin was giving him enough threat that he would need to use his full strength and all his power just to put up a good fight. It was a quite rare feeling, which made him more interested in Shin.

At the same time, he also felt that something more. He felt that Shin was somewhat familiar for some unknown reason. He felt that he had met Shin before, but he could not put his finger on it. It was as if he was already near the answer, yet it was trying to slip away.

But despite his curiosity and his urges to try fighting Shin, he kept his word and waited for the two to finish in full patience, not minding that his turn would have to take a little longer.

"Let's see if you are worth fighting for," he mumbled as he smiled while watching the two.

***

Somewhere in the Aurora Continent, Lawless and Faker logged into the game after quite a long time.

It might only be a couple of days, but they felt that they had been away for a very long time. It felt that they had gone into another two years of hiatus, given all the messages and updates that they had gotten.

They open their respective virtual screens and browse through all the news and updates, trying to catch up with everything.

They already had quite a few ideas of what was going on as they kept in touch with their friends, who kept playing the game while they were away, particularly the members of their Adventurer Team.

However, they were not expecting that it would be at this level. They were not expecting that a lot had happened since they last visited the game.

What made them more curious about these events was the news about the Hall of Fame, particularly the names on the list. But saw quite a lot of familiar names listed in there, especially the current Godlike Players listed in the official godly list.

What piqued their interest more was the few familiar names that they had not seen for quite a long time, particularly those Monster Class Players, who played with them in the previous games.

Some of these players were a legend on their own. They just played a little low after the big incident that shook the virtual world two years ago.

Most of them either retired or gave up their previous post within their respective guilds and organizations. Some of them were even forgotten by most of the people, which was why they were not stirring any kind of sensation during all these recent events.

But now that they had already made their presence known once again, the two knew that more of these old gods would slowly appear one after another soon.

It had been quite some time since some of these old experts came back, especially when Shin and the rest of the Empyrean Talons were clearing their most recent Empire Quest. But many of them remained quite unknown and forgotten by many people.

But with this list that everyone could see, Faker and Lawless could already see what was about to happen.

The sudden shift that was about to happen would cause bigger ripples in the virtual world, and it was about to be known to everyone sooner or later.

Seeing that most of these previously famous gods appeared in the Hall of Fame and reached the third tier of their respective class, Lawless and Faker felt that they had to make haste and clear their respective promotion quests as soon as possible.

They also skimmed through the information and clues that Shin had provided them about how to clear their respective promotion quests, making it quite easier for them to catch up to everyone.

"I have already promoted my bloodline to the next level, so I will try taking my promotion quest and see if I can handle it," said Lawless as he took a token from his inventory, which was the 'Proof of Qualification' that he had.

Faker nodded his head and agreed before saying. "I will head back to the Saint Heaven Kingdom first before doing mine. You do your thing while I will deal with my own."

"Let's meet again when it is time to head to the next continent," he added before hopping back to instantly meld with the surroundings, completely erasing his presence, and suddenly disappearing in sight.

Lawless stared at the spot where Faker disappeared before taking a deep breath. Now that they kept on spreading their influence and reviving their name and reputation, he knew that the time when he had to meet their old teammates would be coming near.

He was not sure how he would handle it when he faced those traitors once again. He was not confident that he would be able to hold himself back and not clash with them.

He clenched his fists tightly as he held his urges back before sighing. "Let's hope that it will not cause another ripple that will spread throughout the virtual world."

***

At the same time, inside a certain someone's virtual space, a pair of people were standing right across each other.

"I thought you were going to bring me to an interesting place, but why are you trying to get me into a virtual world? Am I a kid or something? Do you want me to play a game while we have missions to do?"

Alyssa was quite furious when she learned where the place that she had to visit. She wanted to beat David into a pulp after learning that what he was talking about was a certain place within the virtual world.

She felt that she had been tricked.

David did not mind how she was throwing her tantrums as he was somewhat used to it. He then waited for her to calm down before trying to coax her into playing the game.

"I can reassure you that you will not regret this. Even Master and Sir Adam played a virtual game during their younger years. Don't you want to know what they had experienced?"

"Don't you want to know those things they say that can only be learned from the virtual world? Trust me when I say this – you will get hooked into it when you experience it."

...…