Child of Destiny

...

Shin continued to slaughter all the undead monsters and corrupted monsters that were beings sent to him by the necromancers of the Corrupted Cult without showing any hint of exhaustion.

The people watching this scene could not help but gulp hard. They even looked at the digital clock to make sure that they were not imagining things, but it was true that Shin had been fighting in this place for hours already. Heck!

It was even a whole day and a half if they included the first few hours where Shin's Elemental Spirits were dealing with the initial wave of players and his time ambushing the other groups earlier.

If this were a battle between guilds or sieging cities, then they would not be surprised about how long it was since such timeframes were very normal on those occasions. It could even last for weeks or even a whole month if both sides gave their all.

But those were large-scale wars that involved larger forces. Compared to this ongoing battle, where there was a single person fighting army after army of elite players and powerful monsters, the viewers could only think that this was absurd.

Even if the time difference between within the game was much faster than the outside world, the mental exhaustion from fighting continuously like this would without a doubt, be exhausting. It was quite burdening as it would put a heavy toll on the mind of the player.

Yet, here was Shin, showing no hint of exhaustion. On the contrary, he seemed to be much stronger than ever. He seemed to be more domineering compared to the start of the battle.

Moreover, the battle that he was showcasing was much more complicated than what it used to be yet also quite powerful.

The Quick Draw was already tricky to deal with. But if he added the ever-changing sword style that he had, which improved by a great margin since he last showed it in public, his opponent would surely have a headache during the battle.

And given the number of elites and experts who died in this battle and were forced to be logged out, the scale of this battle was no different from a full-scale guild war, or even worse since there were big factions involved.

Yet, the person who was fighting alone was the one on the winning side.

"This is crazy! Isn't this the same as those legendary battles when the top gods are still in the middle of building up their fame?"

"There is no need to tell. Simba and Siegfried have done similar things in the past."

"I seem to be remembering that time when Khing steamrolled his way toward that capital city and killed the guild leader of that Powerhouse Guild."

"Isn't this similar to the mountain slaughter incident that took place in «True Era» Online?"

"It is more like the Heavenly Castle Massacre that was committed by Blood Carnival in that particular game, but alone."

Floods of messages and comments appeared on the live feed broadcast of the battle, voicing out their reactions and reminiscing the previous incidents that took place in previous games.

They had also started comparing Shin with the other top gods who had done similar feats in the past even before they became Godlike Players themselves, which was also the time that solidified their fame.

At the same time, the top guilds, who were keeping an eye on this 'event', could not help but shake their heads as knew that Shin was becoming more and more of a proper Godlike Player. They had already expected this to happen, but it happened a little too early compared to their estimated time.

They were now starting to get worried that more and more powerhouses were appearing one after another. But this was also a good opportunity that they could use to develop their forces. They could use Shin and the other new experts as an example to put pressure on the emerging talents of their respective guilds, urging them to improve as well.

They could also start recruiting those talented players who still did not belong to any powers within the game.

As for those people from the dark forces, they were getting greedier as these types of people were the ones that they wanted to take down the most.

A few of them were the kings of the dark guilds such as Blood Carnival, Death Skull, and Dark Thoughts. The former was already active as they kept getting involved in different incidents and even teamed up with the Corrupted Cult multiple times while the latter two kept a low profile.

However, those two dark guilds were not active near the Saint Heaven Kingdom as they were operating in a faraway Empire.

But since the Blood Carnival was revealing that their founding members were starting to get involved in the virtual world once again, the two dark guilds were expected to become active as well.

Speaking of the Blood Carnival, the higher-ups of the guild received a report from Pogo, who had just been defeated by Shin. He did not feel any ashamed of what happened since it was normal for experts of their caliber to suffer defeat in a battle, much less losing to such a great player like Shin.

They were unlike those sore losers, who keep being bitter after suffering such a setback. They were all professional in their field and they would not last here if they kept such a mindset. They had been in this business for quite a long time already, so this defeat was not a big deal, especially when he put up such a good battle.

Pogo also sent recorded videos of the battle, letting the team that specialized in analytics study the fighting style of Shin.

He also later received a report that was telling him the true identity of his opponent, which also confirmed their suspicions.

When he logged in to the official forums of the game and watched the still ongoing battle, Pogo could not help but click his tongue and felt a little bitter. "Tsk! Tsk! So, I still lose despite my opponent holding back their strength."

He also could not help but remember his battle against David, known as Khing within the game. At that time, was also clear that the latter had yet to reveal his true strength. Heck! David even drew a circle that he could use to move, limiting his movements – yet Pogo still lost that battle.

Losing two big battles consecutively, Pogo could not help but shake his head and smile bitterly. "I will not hear the end of it from Jester and Fool. I guess I have to keep a low profile for the time being to avoid getting their attention."

After that, he recovered his usual composure and mumbled. "I guess I have to hone my skills a little more and find a way to overcome my weakness."

This recent battle not only helped Shin improve himself but also exposed a fatal weakness in Pogo's style, which made the latter reevaluate himself. He realized that he still had to improve himself if he did not want to be left in the dust.

…

Pogo was not the only one, who was thinking this way. Some of the Godlike Players, who had seen the battle video, also started evaluating themselves.

The ones, who discovered that they were still behind top gods, started looking into the combat states more seriously. They all realized that even if they had gained such special states during unique quests and after clearing their respective promotion quests, they were still a clear gap between them and those standing at the apex of the game.

They realized that there were also some divisions between the combat states that they commanded. They had started exploring more about these new mechanics added to the game.

Meanwhile, those experts, who were already of the same caliber as Shin and Pogo, realized something a little different.

They saw a new light in the battle that took place just now. It was clear that both sides had similar strengths, but their control over their combat states was different.

It might not be too obvious to most of the people, but for these gods, who possessed sharp eyes, there was a distinct difference between the two.

During the entire battle, Shin showcased a better understanding of his combat state than Pogo, which led him to his victory. They realized that having better control and understanding over their respective combat states would let them gain a newfound strength that they had never experienced before.

Aside from that, they could also see the skills and combat techniques under their arsenal in a new light. One example of this was how Shin kept on converting most of his skills and techniques into something different and even made them much stronger than what they were supposed to be.

Even if most of this was due to the uniqueness of Shin's combat state, the Reality Manifestation, these apex gods had gotten a rough idea of how they would take advantage of their respective combat states.

After all, they were also top gods themselves, so they had their unique way of seeing things. If other experts of the same caliber could achieve such a feat, there was no reason for them not to produce the same result.

With that thought in mind, they even started re-evaluating the other battles that Shin had fought, particularly that one battle that he had against Haowin, the God of Carnage himself.

Just like this, Shin's battle videos became a classic to the Godlike Players and Maverick Gods of the game. These videos became study materials for these apex experts as they tried to uncover more about the combat states.

…

Shin, who was already feeling slightly fatigued after the long and continuous battle, glanced at the digital clock in the corner of his eyes and saw that it was about time to log out. There was still a total of eight hours before this 'hunting event' ended.

Sweeping his gaze at the surroundings and seeing that the real experts of the Corrupted Cult were still unwilling to make their moves, Shin felt that it was time to call it a day.

He knew that these cunning people of the cult were waiting for him to fully exhaust himself before making their move. But they did not expect that Shin would consume a special potion that would relieve the mental exhaustion after an intense and continuous battle.

The extended period that the potions had brought Shin, greatly disrupted the plans of the Corrupted Cult.

Meanwhile, those guys from Demonic Churches refused to reveal themselves until the final moments, which was why they had still yet to make their appearance.

Seeing that these cunning foxes were not willing to take the initiative up until now, Shin decided to retreat for a moment and recuperate.

He smirked before disappearing in front of everyone's eyes after warding off a series of attacks from different directions.

He then rushed toward a secluded place within the region before looking for a good spot to log out.

After making sure that he was not being followed and no one was around, he closed his eyes and logged out of the game.

That was also the time when all the players participating in the event received a notification that their target had logged out of the game and the timer would be paused until he came back online once again.

The members of the Corrupted Cult and Demonic Churches, who were patiently biding their time could only stare blankly at the notification right in front of their eyes full of disbelief.

It took them quite a while before they were able to process the notification before suddenly cursing out loud, calling Shin shameless and everything else.

They seemed to have forgotten that they were ganging up against a single person – or a monster.

…

In the meantime, Shin did not care anything about it as he was already standing up from the gaming cabin.

That was also when he remembered something and logged in to the special portal that was meant for the top gods of the game.

He browsed through the long list of members until he found the name that he was looking for – Martial God Ashura.

After thinking for a moment, he clicked on the name and sent a direct message saying that they had to slightly delay their scheduled duel since he wanted to recover his peak condition before it.

Shin waited a few minutes for the reply of the other side. But after seeing that there was no response, he shrugged his shoulders before going for his usual morning routine.

He was not in a hurry anyway as he also had to attend classes and training. However, he was not planning to train that hard since he had to rest before logging back into the game later.

He had to be thoroughly prepared before challenging the current champion of the Hegemon Cup for a duel.

...

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