Child of Destiny

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Saint Heaven Kingdom

Heavenly Resto-Bar – Calderock Town Branch, VIP room 1.

Shin became confused at the sight of the room as the so-called famous and strong players inside this room were currently acting like a group of good cubs in front of Leonard as they behaved on their seats. Well, aside from Shin; Lawless and Faker might be the only ones that were able to hold the pressure that this new guy was giving. 

Kazuki and the other three on his group didn't even have a guts to release a fart to come out at the current moment for they are too afraid that this guy might get annoyed at them.

At the same time, S.Tigris and Gino were too quiet as the let their company to do all the talk. Black Hand and Audrey, on the other hand, were too tensed when they were giving out some suggestion for their strategies.

Well, no one could blame these guys as Leonard was really not someone that you could level as an average John Doe. In fact, they should be the ones that were a little average on the former's eyes.

Why? Well, the answer was quite simple.

It was because this new guy that arrived with Shin was someone that could really be consider a Myth if Lawless, Faker and the former members of the Brutal Team could be consider as some Legends.

And the reason for that was Leonard, or rather known as 'Simba' inside the game, was someone that was ranked as one of the top players in the Overall Expert Ranking List of the World's Greatest Gamers. And the ordinary folks knew him with the title of 'War God' for he was someone that looked like the manifestation of the real War God in their eyes.

He was given that title not because he participated in ordinary wars like some Guild wars or something similar to that. He got this title by surviving the hunting spree of a powerful Guild that put some bounty on top of his head while paying them back with some interest.

At first, he was some unknown player that was too average on the eyes of this Guild. But when he provoked some higher-ups of that certain Guild, he became a target for by some bounty hunters all around the gaming world for that guild have a lot of influence in the game. What's more, they put a heavy bounty for his head.

And that was when his legend started. After surviving a battle after battle, Simba became stronger and stronger as the time goes by. Naturally, the experts that going after him also becoming stronger too as he survived every single battle.

And when this lion cub became mature enough to be considered as an adult lion through his experiences, he declared a war against that guild that put a bounty at him. He hunted all of the elite to expert groups of that guild one by one and slayed them repeatedly all the way until they could already be considered as a crippled player.

And because of his repeated hunting, that Guild suffer a huge lost after another, making them to became too furious. And that was why they sent their main forces of their Guild to take down this wild and untamed lion. They sent their five armies in total.

And the result?

It was something that could be considered as some event that could be written on the annals of the gaming world history.

He slaughtered those five armies all by himself. Even if he did some guerrilla tactics on that battle, that was still something that could be considered as understandable given the number of his enemies. And this achievement had given him the title of 'Lion King', the king of jungle.

But that 'war' didn't just end there as that Guild didn't just stay lying down. This time, they pulled out their big guns as they sent all of their Monster-Class Players, who were now leveled as Godlike Players on this current time; and they were five of them at that.

And that next battle became another history, the 'Lion King: Simba' battle those five Monster-Class players all alone and managed to emerge victorious after an intense and desperate battle.

His roaring to the sky image became engraved at the minds of the other players that witness that sight. And that was the time, when the title of 'War God' was given to him with no one dare of disagreeing with that.

His next achievement was slaughtering that Guild and razed them to the ground, forcing them to disband as most of their members were starting to leave their Guild one after another.

And that was the start of the more and more legends that the 'War God: Simba' had created.

…

Meanwhile, Shin was currently shifting his eyes between Simba and the virtual screen in front of him, where he was reading the details regarding Leonard's amazing feats.

His mouth couldn't help but twitched as kept having a weird expression on his face. 'What the heck? Leo was that amazing!? D*mn! Then I am really left behind by too much if that was the case. And didn't he say that Arthur is somewhat stronger than him, right? Then how strong was that guy? Don't tell me he is also someone with similar kind of achievements? Tsk! Looks like I really need to work with extra and double efforts so that I can catch up with them.'

And unknown to him, while he was having those kinds of thoughts, the other people inside the room was also looking at him weirdly. It was because Leonard's arrival was not the only surprise that the group had get.

S.Tigris, Black Hand, Gino and Audrey were wondering about how he was able to came up with those kind of strategies that he gave. In fact, his strategies were quite simple and a kind of basic ones at that. Something like sieging the Nest head-on with a direct strength while slightly pulling back some of their punches. Or something like making Simba as secret weapon since the opponent didn't know about his presence. And something like letting the Eternal Hope to be a look out for some external factors that might affect their progress on their quest.

Those things were too basic and quite a given for them, but the thing that surprise them was how Shin arranged the things. All of the things that he arranged might be in some basic order, but there were a lot of things behind each of his arrangements. And each and every plan that he gave was interconnected with each other, so no matter how unexpected the things that might happened. It was as if there were always be a backup plan after a backup plan.

Even Black Hand and Audrey were left in awe as they listen to him. They could already consider themselves as an expert in the art of war and battle strategies, but faced with Shin, they couldn't help themselves but admit that he was a little better at them in the moment.

Even of the two of them tried to exploit some weak points on his plans, he was able to counter it with some moves, which left them a little more speechless.

What they didn't know was Shin only prepared a one whole plan from the very start of this strategy meeting, and the so-called 'backup plans' that he got was only some things that he came up with on the spot whenever Black Hand and Audrey tried to exploit something.

Even S.Tigris and Gino were thinking that sooner or later another war/battle strategist would become known and would be added on the Strategist Ranking List.

At the same time, Simba who was sitting beside Shin, couldn't help himself but to release some chuckles from time to time, every time Shin gave his 'counter plans'. It was because he was quite familiar at Shin's behavior and 'Battle Genius habits'.

Lawless and Faker were quite aware at Shin's planning skills since they already experienced it before at the recent Battle of the Shunkai Forest. What they were curious about was how Shin did know the man beside him, what's more, managing to invite him to join their meeting, much less, helping them at their current quest. 

Kazuki and his group, on the other hand, were wondering who was this guy for he was able to do both the wonders of the former group and the question of the dynamic duo.

And just like that, the entire strategic meeting finally came to an end. Kazuki and his group were the first ones to bade their farewell for they couldn't stand staying on the same room with Simba; they felt like they were being caged with a wild beast. Naturally, S.Tigris and Black Hand would immediately followed after them while saying that they still need to prepare some things before setting out, so did the pair of Gino and Audrey; it was as if they were running for their lives.

With that, Shin and Leonard were left in the room together with Lawless and Faker.

And now that there were no extra outsiders with them, Shin could now voice out some of his complaints. "D*mn you, Leo! What's with these kinds of achievements? You really are some big shot in the gaming world now, Huh? No wonder you gave up on those sideline jobs that you were talking before. Why didn't you tell me something like this all this time, Huh?"

Simba released some chuckles at Shin before replying at the latter. "What are you talking about, Shin Bro? Arthur Bro kept inviting you before to play with us on different VR games, yet you also kept rejecting him at those times. What's more, you are not interested on these kinds of things before, so I didn't mention it to you."

Shin clicked his tongue and said. "Tsk! Then how about you tell me how you become so strong like this, Huh? Mind if you share some knowledge with me, Bro?"

Simba shook his head while smiling bitterly before saying to Shin. "Heh! There you go again. What can I share to you if you are stronger than me in terms of Martial-Arts in the very first place? In fact, I should be thanking you and Arthur Bro instead, since the two of you are helping me improve my Martial-Arts at that time. And through the passage of time, my accumulated experiences inside the game help me reach this stage together with what you two have thought me."

Then he quickly added after a brief moment of pause. "So, in short, what you really lack is experiences in the game as your mind is not yet fully adjusted to your virtual body in this Virtual World. And as the time goes by, your mind will slowly assimilate with it, making your movements to become even more synchronized with it."

"And when that time comes, I want to see who is stronger between you and Arthur Bro. Hehe… I am sure that your battle is going to become more exciting than you sparring match in the Real World."

Simba paused what he was saying once again and turned his attention to the duo of Lawless and Faker who were currently looking at him with a pair of curious gazes. "Oops! Where are my manners? I almost forgot to properly greet the Commander and Vice Commander of the Dark Hero Adventurer Team."

Then he nodded his head at them before turning it at Shin once again and said. "And how did you know these two, Shin Bro? They are some kind of super strong players that are as strong as me when they regained their peak strength," while pointing his right-hand index finger at Lawless and Faker.

And that was when Simba noticed that Shin was looking at him with a weird expression on his face. So, he couldn't help himself but asked. "What? Is there something wrong?"

Shin nodded his head unconsciously and said to Simba. "Yeah, there is something wrong. It is you Leo. How come that your personality is somewhat… No… It is completely different to what I remember. You are quite unconfident for what I know, yet now, you are somewhat… Overflowing with confidence. Is that the side effect of your training? Or something else?"

Simba suddenly laughed out loud and replied at him. "Hahaha… No, it is not like that. It is just I am always been like this in the Virtual World. You should blame Arthur Bro with this. He was the one that made me act this way. I become confident here since I am someone that have some strength and power that can back myself up. Well, in Real World, you are already about my circumstances."

On the side, Lawless and Faker become even more at awe when they saw the exchange of the two. Then they turned their heads to the side to look at each other and saw that both of them had the same thought in mind. – "So, Brother Sickarius was really someone that you can't underestimate. He keeps giving us some surprises after a couple of surprises." – 

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