Child of Destiny

...…

Shin found himself locked inside a prison while looking confused about what happened.

He could not help but sigh as he tried to recall what had transpired when he appeared at the Teleportation Hall of the Divinity City.

…

A few hours prior.

"Who are you!? State your affiliation and objective at coming to this place!"

Right after opening his eyes, Shin found himself surrounded by a huge group of fully armed soldiers with their weapons pointing at him.

The spears were directed at his neck by the NPC soldiers from every direction while the crossbows and arrows were aimed at his direction from the distance.

"What-… the heck is happening?" he mumbled as he froze in a place full of confusion.

He did not know that appearing in this place using that Ancient Teleportation Formation was a form of illegal entry and caused such a commotion.

Fortunately, he did not raise any resistance, or else he would be killed within an instant. After all, these NPC Guards were around Level 200 to 300, so he would not stand a chance fighting any of them even if he wanted to.

But what surprised him in this situation was he did not feel any discomfort when he first arrived in this place, unlike what the others had experienced.

It was most likely because of what he had experienced on the trial grounds previously. After all, the mana density in that place was much denser and more concentrated than in this place.

Moreover, it was underwater, which made him somewhat familiar with being 'submerged' in mana.

He could even fight in that place against powerful creatures of the sea, so this was nothing in comparison.

But he could not help but become depressed as he was cuffed and dragged by the NPC Soldiers. They then threw him at the prison, waiting for the verdict of their commanders.

…

It had been quite a while since he was locked in this place, and he did not even know how to inform the others about his situation within the game.

All kinds of communications were being blocked by the sealing formation covering the entire place, which was why he could not send any messages to the others.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

Of course, he could also use the other features of his gaming cabin and use real-world communication to tell them his situation. But he could not do it within the game due to some restrictions that were telling him.

He could just log out of the game while waiting for the so-called verdict, but there was a special quest that was telling him that he could not do it either since it would worsen his 'crime'.

He could only wait silently in this place, hoping that this unexpected 'quest' would somehow help him.

"Sigh~! If I knew that this was going to happen, then I should have chosen my destination to the Aurora Continent instead. Even if the said place is quite suspicious, I will at least not put in this situation."

"After all, my current strength surpassed most of the obstacles in the Aurora Continent. Aside from those absolute monsters, I will be fine most of the time."

He paused when he reached this thought before sighing. "However, given me luck, I will most likely be dropped somewhere filled with such monsters."

"Ah~! Forget it! What happened, happened! Let's just hope that this 'quest' will not take that long to take effect," he mumbled as he sat cross-legged on the ground before closing his eyes.

He was about to start another meditation. Since he was thrown here, all his equipment was sent in his inventory, which was now locked due to the restrictions of the place.

If he wanted to get access to them again, he had to leave this place to escape the suppression of the sealing formation.

He had to thank the system or the NPCs for not taking his equipment and weapons from him, or else he would be in deep trouble.

With nothing but a set of prisoner clothes, Shin could do nothing but meditate in this place. Even if most of his powers were sealed within his prison, he was still able to do some mental practices such as meditation.

By doing this, he was able to reconstruct his Four Symbol Scripture and let the Boundless Ocean Technique completely assimilate with it.

Along with the other techniques that he had already acquired, his Mentalism Method became even more complete and perfected.

He had even incorporated the knowledge that he had gotten from that inheritance tome that he had 'stolen' from the Black Serpent Mafia, further completing the cycle of five elements.

What was left right now was to put everything into practice and familiarize himself with his newly found strength and power.

Fortunately, no one disturbed him in this place despite being a prison. In fact, he had never found any other prisoner aside from him when he was brought to this place. It was as if he was the sole prisoner of this city.

But that was just a suspicion since he was only brought to the first floor of the prison. He overheard from the guards earlier that there were more levels underground galled the prison dungeons, where the most notorious and more dangerous criminals were being held.

"I wonder how strong the criminals are locked in those lower prisons to be considered notorious in a place like this," he mumbled out of curiosity.

After all, this was the Awakened Continent, where monsters and entities more powerful than his knowledge roamed.

***

Somewhere within the Divinity City, Arthur just finished training with the rest of the Empyrean Talons and currently walking along the streets of the city.

"Huh!? Where the heck is Shin? It has been a while since he last contacted us, telling us that he is already at the Divinity City, yet he is still nowhere to be seen," he mumbled while looking at the message logs.

He had been sending messages to Shin since earlier, but Shin never replied to any of his messages.

He turned to Leonard, who was walking alongside him, and asked. "What about you? Have you heard anything from him?"

Leonard shook his head. "None either. Given the status of his character, it seems like he is in another independent dimension again, doing some strange quest or something."

"Tsk! That guy is always doing things at the most unexpected time – popping out and disappearing whenever he pleases," complained Arthur as he sighed.

He then opened his quest panel and said. "Tsk! I need some help completing my quest as well. I have just gotten a clue where to find one of the pieces of my Divine Armor recently."

"I guess the two of us can do it for now," he frowned deeply as he checked on the details of his quest.

Leonard chuckled as he heard that. "Then why not ask for some help from the others? Diablo and Alucard shouldn't be that bad. Given their current strength, they shouldn't be that far from our levels."

"Especially when they have fully digested their respective inheritances. Diablo has mastered his Martial Manuals completely and is even able to control his Shadow Powers freely while Alucard has upgraded the purity of his bloodline and changed his class as well."

"Both of them have become a great asset to our adventurer team," he added, praising the two. "With them alongside Cloe and Alice, our lineup shouldn't be that bad for this quest of yours."

Arthur clicked his tongue as he heard those words. "Tsk! Do you think I don't know about it? The problem is they are already doing their faction quest after completing their initial training."

"An NPC organization scouts Diablo, which is called Penumbra or something. He is currently undergoing a special test to become one of them."

"Alucard has discovered a vampire circle within the city, which is from a different branch of the Vampire Families. He is currently investigating them right now."

"The priests of the Church of Light suddenly drag Cloe. As their Holy Maiden, she seemed to be undergoing an additional training."

"Alice, on the other hand, is summoned by the council of elves for some reason and has been busy ever since. It is also quite hard to contact her. Fortunately, she still regularly appears during our training sessions."

"With all of them busy with their things, we are the only ones left," he sighed, feeling somewhat dejected.

He then asked. "How about you? Have you found any clue about your Divine Armor?"

Leonard shrugged his shoulders as he replied. "Nothing much as well. I have been investigating for as much as possible, but the only clues I have gotten are quite limited."

He then paused for a moment as he added. "But one thing is for sure. I can't get my hands on any of the required materials with our current strength. Those three mighty beasts are way beyond our level."

"Then how are you going to get your Divine Armor?" Arthur frowned.

Leonard recalled the clues that he had gathered before answering. "But I do have found something. It seems like there is a fragment of the original Divine Armor somewhere in the Beastmen territory in this continent."

"If I manage to find and bring it to a Saint Blacksmith for repairs, I can have a prototype of my Divine Armor, which can also act as the main frame when I have collected all the materials."

As the two were walking down the streets and chatting, they suddenly overheard something from the pedestrians walking alongside them.

"Have you heard? Someone seemed to have tried to enter the city through illegal means."

"Yeah! I heard about it as well. It seems like they even use the Teleportation Formation through a special means."

"Hah! They are foolish enough to think that they will be able to use the Teleportation Hall without being noticed."

"Apparently, the said person is thrown in the underground dungeons."

The two could not help but halt their tracks when they heard those words. Then they exchanged glances with each other with wide-opened eyes, seemingly sharing the same thoughts.

"Don't tell me-…!"

"There is no way, right?"

...