Child of Destiny

……

The battle became more intense as time passed, but the people with keen eyes and sharp insights were also able to notice the small advantages that the Empyrean Talons were getting.

Adding the constant disturbances that Shin was creating in the middle of the enemies’ ranks, the situation on the battlefield was slowly tilting in their favor.

But that was not the end of their analysis, as they could also see that the morale of some of the members of the Earners Mercenary Group was somewhat affected by something. Based on the previous events that everyone had seen, they could deduce that it was due to what War God Simba had done.

The key members of the mercenary group, such as Flouree, Kael, Sylas, and Aiming, were still fine. But the others were making some silly mistakes here and there, albeit small and negligible.

These small mistakes were slowly accumulating, which would lead to their demise sooner or later.

It was already too late for the others to realize this, especially when Shin had cunningly lured them into committing those mistakes not long after.

The battle had ended just like how the Big Boss of the Earners Mercenary Group had predicted. Their side indeed lost the match due to the accumulated mistakes and affected morale.

Even if it was still a hard-fought battle for the Empyrean Talons – losing four of their members in the process, such as Alice, Chaotic Luck, Huahua, and Owen – the rest of the team were still able to wrap everything up and win the battle in the end.

The Empyrean Talons did not linger on the battlefield for that long, as they quickly returned to their private lounge and did an individual assessment of their respective performances in the match.

Alice was quite eager to check the videos as she could not believe that she lost in the final exchange. Even if it was just a small margin, she could not believe that she had lost in terms of Elemental Magic.

Later, she realized that it was due to the mysterious wheel floating above Kael’s head, which was emitting a strange aura.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team were too tired to do anything else, so Shin just dismissed them. He told everyone that they would review the details of the match tomorrow once everyone had fully rested.

Everyone agreed with him, so they went to do their respective tasks.

Shin originally wanted to ask something of Akailu. But he later noticed that the latter had dragged Leonard into one of their virtual space’s training areas, seemingly planning to ask for some instructions.

Seeing that, Shin could tell that Akailu had gained quite a lot in the previous battle despite not doing that much in that match.

He had some idea what had happened during that time when Akailu was ‘stunned’ for an unknown reason, but he was not that sure yet.

But after seeing the eager look that Akailu had, it confirmed all his suspicions.

Seeing that everyone went to do their respective business, Shin fell into thought for a moment, thinking about what to do next.

His original plan was to log out of the game and do some foundation and meditation training. After all, he still needed to further stabilize his current state in the real world due to his recent breakthrough.

But before that, he first wanted to watch the next match. He wanted to see what their friends from the Slayers Adventurer Team were planning.

Even though the Pandemonium Descendant had pulled out most of their main combatants from the tournament and just sent some random officials to continue the competition, their strength was still decent enough to be underestimated.

Some of these guys were even a captain of a Sweeper Unit, which was one of the main forces of the organization.

Shin was anticipating a good show when a piece of shocking news was announced by the tournament organizers.

“Slayers Adventurer Team has withdrawn from the tournament!”

Seeing the announcement, Shin could not help but stare blankly at the virtual screen before him. He could not believe what he was seeing.

“What the heck is this!?”

Unable to believe the announcement, Shin felt that there must be some issues or foul play involved in this matter.

He quickly pulled out his friend list and contacted Lawless, planning to inquire about the situation. He needed a clearer view of this, or else he would assume that something had happened to those two big brothers.

It did not take that long before Lawless answered the call and got bombarded by a series of questions, asking if they were facing some difficulties.

But what Shin had received in return was a heartfelt laugh coming from the other side of the line.

This confused him a little further.

He wanted for quite a while, until Lawless had regained himself, before asking. “What exactly is going on?”

“Cough! Cough!” Lawless cleared his throat for a moment before giving Shin the answer that he was looking for. “It is not as serious as you think. Don’t overthink our withdrawal from the tournament. It is truly not a big deal.”

“We have voluntarily withdrawn from it because we have more important things to deal with. We are preparing for the big change.”

Hearing the latter part of Lawless’ words, Shin could not help but inquire further. “Prepare? Prepare for what? Is a big event coming or something?”

Lawless chuckled when he heard those questions before explaining. “There is no need to hide this from you since you will know about it sooner or later.”

“A big change is going to happen within the game. It is not just an ordinary change, but a whole new update. A greater patch update.”

Shin furrowed his brows a little as he repeated. “A big patch?”

“That’s right,” said Lawless as he continued. “It is not an ordinary patch as it will change the current power structure within the game.”

He paused for a moment for a little suspense, just like he loved to do, teasing Shin a little. He then continued as he knew that the latter was not fond of such things. “In the upcoming path, Void Manifestation Stage Martial Artists, Rulers Realm Mentalist, Weapon Masters, and those on equivalent realms will not be able to enter the game without suffering many restrictions.”

“Huh!?” Shin could not help but take a deep breath after hearing those words, unable to say anything for a long time.

He knew the huge implications of such news, especially how it would affect the overall structure of the game.

True veterans of the real world could now enter the game and join the competition and chaos of the virtual world.

Once these experts started flooding into the game, everything would change. Whether it was a good or a bad thing, no one could tell yet.

But the overall situation of the virtual world would collapse greatly.

“No wonder, Brother Lawless and others are taking this situation more seriously,” mumbled Shin as he could see what these people were thinking.

He could also relate why the Pandemonium Descendants had suddenly pulled out their main forces from the tournament. He could tell that they must be plotting something in the dark and wanted to focus their forces on that side.

Thinking about this, Shin suddenly realized something as well. “If that is the case, then Brother Lawless and the others are-…”

He could already foresee that these guys wanted to prepare for their respective breakthroughs. After all, he could tell that Jerimiah (Lawless) and Vincient (Faker) were at the peak of the Ethereal Opening Stage and only waiting for opportunities to break through.

From what he could see, these guys were only suppressing their respective states so that they could continue playing the game without restraints.

“If that is the case, then Big Sister and Senior Brother as well!” Shin continued to mumble as he could already see what was happening.

Lawless could also tell that Shin had already figured everything out, so he did not need to explain further about this matter.

He just sighed and continued. “As you can see, our small team can’t compete with those big organizations and top guilds when it comes to manpower, so we can only rely on ourselves.”

“They can send their subordinates to compete in the stage, while we can only pull out of the tournament as we can’t afford to put that much effort into it. We must put all our focus on our respective breakthroughs while preparing for the big update.”

He paused for a moment as he quickly added. “Since we are friends, I want you to win everything and raise the United Cup. Don’t let Ashura and his gang win a back-to-back championship!”

After joking and laughing for a moment, Lawless continued in a more serious tone. “Based on our deduction, the massive patch will most likely be launched after the United Cup.”

“This big update will most likely take place for a month or so, It is somewhat similar to the previous one, but slightly longer. After all, the gaming company had to do some upgrades and lift the restrictions that they had placed in the game.”

“It will greatly affect the timeline within the game, so I suggest you do your quests and clear them up as soon as possible to avoid them from being affected.”

“But if you think that those quests will not be affected by those changes, then I advise you to focus more on growing your strength both inside and outside the game. You have to keep that synchronization rate as high and sharp as possible.”

Then his tone became even more serious as he added. “This update will greatly affect both the real world and the game. If you want to know about it, then I suggest you ask the seniors on your side once you also have your breakthrough.”

“I know that you are very close to breaking through. Given your talent, it shouldn’t be that long.”

“At that point, you will understand the great implications of the game and why a lot of big forces in the real world are too interested in it,” he continued before sighing. “This is all I can tell you for now. I will be hanging up, take care!”

After hearing Shin’s brief reply, Lawless ended the call almost instantly. He could tell how busy the other side was with just this.

Shin fell into deep thought for a while before standing up. He did not plan to continue staying in the game how and did not have the mood for it.

He wanted to log out and head to the seniors within the Springfield Family to inquire about the so-called secrets of the game that kept being mentioned by the people around him.

Since he had already broken through and reached the Peak of the Grandmaster Realm, he had now reached the bare minimum to be qualified to know these secrets.

“Let’s go with Senior Brother first,” mumbled Shin as he trusted David more.

He knew that David would not hide anything from him now that he had reached this stage.

Moreover, this Senior Brother knew his situation more than anyone else compared to those around him, so it was better to consult him than the other seniors.

With that in mind, he logged out of the game.

……