Child of Destiny

……

Shin had forgotten about the time and his purpose of staying in this inner world that he was in. All that he could think of at this moment was to continue polishing his skills and swordsmanship.

He continued to swing his sword, practicing all the sword techniques that he knew and could use inside the game. He did not know much he could improve by doing this, but he could feel something strange within. Something was changing, but he was not sure what it was.

Regardless, he continued to swing the [Yamato] repeatedly while also sheathing and unsheathing it frequently, executing his sword-drawing techniques.

As he was doing that, he was unaware of the changes within his surroundings. The seemingly endless sword graveyard was slowing compressing and moving toward him as if he was its center.

This was his Sea of Consciousness, so it was natural for him to be its center.

In the meantime, the countless swords that were within it were also conversing, seemingly trying to merge with one another. They were fusing into one, trying to form a single sword.

Not long after, these swords disappeared one after another and finally became a sword that seemed to solely own the entire sword graveyard.

Bang!

With a final strike from Shin, a surge of energy surged toward him before fusing with his body. It formed a spiral wave with his left chest as the center.

Feeling this sensation, Shin sheathed his sword and stood still. He raised his head while closing his eyes as he tried to savor the current moment.

This scene lasted for quite a while until the space itself started to crumble and move toward Shin.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

At the same time, the sword that was made of the countless swords of the graveyard hovered in the air above Shin in an upside-down manner before descending. It fell at a constant pace until its tip touched the center of Shin’s forehead.

Bang!

There was a silent explosion within this space as a shockwave spread in every direction. It continued until it reached the edge of the crumbling world before rapidly retreating to Shin once again, converging in a single point.

The suction force dragged everything around it, pulling even the already crumbling place and bringing it to Shin.

The point where the tip of the sword and the center of Shin’s forehead formed a small sphere as everything within this place seemed to have gathered it.

There seemed to be a certain resistance from Shin as the glowing sphere and the descending sword were unable to penetrate. It was as if something powerful was trying to block the two from entering Shin’s mind.

This lasted for quite a long time before the resistance that was coming from Shin dropped. It disappeared as if someone had opened the door for it to enter.

As the sphere and the sword entered Shin’s head, he felt a surge of information rushing in his mind as if someone was passing their memories and experiences to him.

Shin felt like he was living the life of the said person.

The swordsmanship and other forms of insights entered his head before forming a small seed in a part of his Sea of Consciousness. It floated in the air while releasing a brilliant light containing an immense and concentrated Sword Intent.

While Shin slowly opened his eyes, he felt a surge of power within him that he was unable to explain. Nothing seemed to have changed a first glance, but he could sense that this new power was within him.

He felt a little foreign to it at first due to his unfamiliarity with wielding it, but he was rapidly getting over it over time as if the power itself was merging with him.

This was slightly different from what he was expecting.

This was somewhat the opposite of what Federeth, the Elven Seer, had told him earlier. The power within this sword that carried all the swords within the graveyard seemed to be not trying to consume Shin and instead wanted to take him as a new host.

He was expecting a huge battle between him and the previous owner of the Sword Heart as they were trying to take over it – or more specifically, his body.

He did not feel any resistance from the Sword Heart as it seemed to have submitted itself to him without any issue.

Instead of any form of resistance, the flood of information and experiences that he had received greeted him.

This felt that he had learned new sword techniques and other forms of swordsmanship that were different from what he knew.

When he put more thought into it, he found that the Sword Heart was located in a certain part of his inner consciousness, floating silently.

When he tried to focus on it, he felt that he would be able to practice any form of swordsmanship and execute them in battle without problem. It felt that he had become some sword of Sword Genius or sort.

That was when he finally received a notification from the system.

*Ding*

System: Congratulations! You have formed your Sword Heart!

System: Sword Heart Level – Seed.

Shin could not help but raise his brows when he saw it before mumbling. “That was it? I feel like I have not done anything at all.”

He then opened a virtual screen and went to the panel that was specially meant for the Sword Heart.

——————-

[Ability Name]: Sword Heart

[Ability Level]: Seed (Entry)

Description:

Sword Seed (Unlocked): A Special Body Constitution that was perfect for swordsmanship. It allowed you to learn any form of swordsmanship or sword techniques quickly.

Sword Graveyard (Sealed): A Spiritual Place within your inner world where all your insights with the path of the sword were placed. Each sword within the graveyard represented a sword insight or a certain swordsmanship that you had learned.

Sword Mountain (Sealed): A Spiritual Representation of your Swordsmanship, particularly your Sword Path. A Sword Mountain was commonly a higher form of a sword graveyard, where your purest and greatest insight from the path of the sword was formed.

Sword Soul (Sealed): A Spiritual Avatar within your Sea of Consciousness, who lives at the peak of the Sword Mountain. It could cultivate your swordsmanship on its own and could even improve all your weaknesses and fix your flaws.

Sword Heart (Sealed): The pinnacle level of the Sword Heart, which unlocked all your potential and unleashed all your insights.

“As long as you have the Sword in your Heart, anything becomes a Sword in your hands.”

——————-

Shin was somewhat surprised at what he just read. He was not expecting to get such information. It also felt that it was something that came from the real world as well.

From what he could see, this seemed to be what a real Sword Heart was supposed to be, and it was laid in front of his eyes in a detailed manner.

“A Sword Heart is some sort of special body constitution? Well, this is new,” he mumbled as he dwelled into his thoughts. “In a sense, it seems to be a version of my ‘Spiritual Embryo’, but more suited for Swordsmanship instead of Mentalism.”

He was not sure if he met someone with a Sword Heart in the real world before, but he felt that it was most likely the case.

To be more precise, that guy Dylan White, whom he sparred with in the real world, and also the guy behind Zero inside the virtual world, most likely had such a special constitution.

“Those this mean my ‘Spiritual Embryo’ also has this kind of level as well?” he wondered as he said to himself. “I guess I also have to explore more about it later when I have the time.”

At this moment, Shin’s consciousness was pulled back by the system and sent to his virtual avatar.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself still sitting cross-legged at the center of the special room, where Federeth had left him.

He did not immediately stand as he closed his eyes once again and tried to focus his mind on the Sword Seed that was currently inside him. Then the same sensation overwhelmed him once again, signifying that everything that he had tried inside his Sea of Consciousness was real.

He now felt that his swordsmanship reached another level, at least inside the game. He then wondered if this could also affect his main body in the real world just like what happened to him when his ‘Immediate Response’ innate talent had evolved into ‘Ultra Instincts’ for the first time inside the game.

“Let’s set it aside for now since I will immediately notice it once I log out of the game later,” he mumbled before looking at the time.

It then surprised him as he found that he was already late in the morning. It was already six o’clock, which meant that he was late for his morning training.

“What the heck? That much time has passed already? I know that I have spent quite a long time inside that place, but I don’t expect that it would be this long,” he said as he sprung up from his seat and quickly rushed out of the room.

When he existed, he was immediately greeted by Ithilien and Owen, who seemed to be waiting for him for quite a while already.

“Oh! You are finally out, vice commander! We thought that you would take a little longer!” said Ithilien as she felt a little relieved.

Shin looked at the two before asking. “What is it? Is there something urgent that is happening? Is there an emergency?”

Owen smiled and shook his head. “It is not like that. The Elven Seer has instructed us to guard the place and don’t let anyone disturb you, so we are here.”

“We first think that it will only be a couple of hours since that is what Sir Federeth has told us, but we do not expect that it will last for hours,” he added with an awkward smile.

Standing here and doing nothing might be boring for others, but not for Owen, who could enjoy his time chatting with Ithilien as she was stuck with him due to this task.

He could spend a longer time like this instead of doing missions and grinding for resources. He even set aside his class promotion quest for the time being due to this.

This quality time was something he enjoyed, so he felt rather disappointed than relieved that Shin finished with this short close-door training.

Shin could read Owen like an open book when he saw that expression before laughing at the latter. It took him quite a while to calm down before saying. “It seems like this place is already stable and everything is under control. I can now go back to Saint Heaven Kingdom and focus on the other task that needs to be done there.”

“I will be leaving now,” he said before urging the two to finish their promotion quests as soon as possible. “You two should focus on reaching Tier 3 now so that we can proceed to the Second Continent already.”

He then took out a return scroll and crushed it, teleporting himself back to their main kingdom.

Seeing that Shin turned into specks of light, Owen turned awkwardly to Ithilien before asking. “So, where are we again?”

Ithilien rolled her eyes on him before turning around and walking away.

“Hey! Ah-… I mean Joyce! Don’t we agree to meet later? Let’s go hang out after class!” said Owen as he felt that he just missed an important opportunity due to Shin’s sudden interruption earlier.

He wanted to blame Shin and throw a fit, but he could not do it now since the latter had already left.

“D*mn you, Brother Swordsman! You should have exited that room a little later! Just a minute! Just a minute more and I should have succeeded in having a date!”

He could only cry due to his failure.

…