Child of Destiny

...…

After a few more moments of discussion with the three, Shin was finally able to segregate most of the items that they got from the event.

All of the blueprints of equipments and buildings were collected by Shin and stashed them on his personal storage bank together with all of the rare materials that they had got alongside them.

Even if these blueprints were not in Master Rank, all of them were still either at Advance Rank or Intermediate Rank at the very least. And even though they were not the ones that he was looking for, he could use all of them to improve his Town.

The equipments and other items that they couldn't use, on the other hand, were divided into two groups. The first batch which were high-quality ones, were going to be stored at the town's treasury to improve the military force of the Calderock Town, while the remaining ones were going to be sold at the Hand of Midas Trading Firm.

Seeing that Ribbit and his people were taking all of the weapons that Shin had given them, Arthur couldn't help but click his tongue and asked Shin. "Are you sure about this? Big Sis will beat you into a pulp the moment she learned about this."

"Well, she will know about this sooner or later. But since she is not online for quite some time already, she will not be able to learn about it any time soon. So, I still have a lot of time to look for a good gift to lessen her anger," said Shin in a nonchalant manner.

He thought for a moment and said. "What's more, she forbids all of her staff to give us any discounts on the firm. So, you can look at this as a form of payback for it."

Arthur started chuckling after hearing that and sneered. "Heh! I see that you grew some balls after joining this game, huh? Not only you have the guts to trick her, but you also dared to do some paybacks, huh?"

Shin frowned his eyebrows when he heard those words and doubtfully. "What about you? Aren't you stronger than her? You are then no.2 player on the Godlike Ranking list after all; second only to Zero. So, you must be stronger than her now."

Hearing his words, Arthur's face suddenly turned weird before saying. "Well, if it is on papers, then yes, I am stronger than her. But if we really fight against each other, I am not sure if I really can win the battle."

"First, she has the class advantage; Mages are strong against slowpoke classes such as knights and berserkers. What's more, she also focused on ice elements, so she is just going to kite me to death with a bunch of CC-slowing skills."

He paused for a moment to think about something before continuing. "And don't rely on the informations given by the ranking lists too much. They might be accurate that those guys on the list are the strongest players in the game, but how they are ranked is not that accurate."

"And there are also some hidden Maverick Gods that are strong enough to be ranked on those lists but still unknown to the majority of the public's eyes. For example, those 'Hunting Wolves' of the Assassin Union, or those guys on the 'Silent Paradise', or even those mysterious people of 'Pandemonium Descendants'. And so much more."

Reaching this point, Shin remembered something and asked. "Now that I remember about it. What about you, Cloe? Are your teammates not going to look for you?" while turning his head at her.

Cloe was stunned for a moment before saying. "They know that I am here for a quest so they will not mind if I am gone on a few of our raids. And it is only a casual party so it is not a big issue even if I leave the party or not."

Arthur shrugged his shoulders after hearing her reply. Then looked at Leonard and said. "You should give him the coupon that you got. The higher his level is, the higher our chances of clearing that Empire Quest."

Hearing him, Leonard nodded his head and tossed an item at Shin.

Seeing that, Shin caught the item between his two fingers before taking a look at it. It was a card item that was similar to the pardon cards that Simba had given him before, but the patterns and designs written on its surface were completely different.

Knitting his brow, Shin looked at its details.

-----------------------

Item Name: [Experience Points Coupon]

Item Rank: Special

Item Type: Etc.

Detailed: A special reward given to those players that ranked in top 10 of the Special Monster Horde event of the Holy City.

Gives +3 Levels after getting used.

Note: one-time use item.

-----------------------

"Huh? Why didn't I get an item like this?" said Shin after seeing the details.

"Because I exchanged all of the points that I got with this thing. Instead of exchanging it for some items that I don't need, it is better to raise your level as soon as possible so that we can do Arthur's troublesome quest," said Leonard almost instantly.

After Leonard said that, Cloe also gave Shin the same card while saying. "I also exchange my points for [Experience Points Coupon]. Don't think that it is a waste. Grinding experience points on our current levels are pretty much hard, so the faster that we can raise your level, the more often we can play together."

"Have you already cleared all of the quests that you have?" asked Arthur to Shin.

Shin took a look at his Quest information window and saw that there were only 3 active quests on the list. Then he nodded his head and replied. "Yes, all of the quests that I can clear now are already done. What's only left are the quests that need some time to be cleared."

Since he already submitted the other quest that they cleared earlier, Shin's actual level now was at 117 after adding his previous level after the event.

"You haven't done any awakening quest, right?" asked Arthur next.

Shin was confused why Arthur was asking for those questions, but he still nodded his head as acknowledgement.

Getting the confirmation, Arthur fell into a deep thought while muttering. "You are currently level-117 now. If you use the two 2 coupons, you will be at Level 123. Tch! Still 2 levels short before you could have your 2-skill awakening quest. If that was the case, then it is better for you to raise your level for 2 more levels before using those EXP coupons."

Shin knitted his brows before asking. "Can't I just exchange some of my points with an [Experience Points Coupon]? That is better that way. And what 2-skill awakening quest? I thought I could only get 1 awakening quest for every awakening quest."

Arthur clicked his tongue and said. "Of course, you can. But it is better to save them for some other rewards that you can get. You are the 1st placer, so there the special system shop is available for you. You can buy some special items there that you can't find anywhere."

"As for the 2-skill awakening quest, that is a special opportunity for those players that didn't manage to get a Blood Stone at early stages of the Level-100. And that is also why most of the top players always want to delay their awakening quest for as long as they can. Though, the difficulty will rise by way too much, the skill that you will get will surely be useful and strong."

Shin was surprised hearing that and asked for confirmation. "For real?"

Arthur nodded his head confirming it. And when Shin saw that, asked next. "Then I can also get some 'Skill-Combination Coupon'?" He actually didn't care much about the latter part of what Arthur had said since he could deal with it later.

When Arthur heard that, his face suddenly turned stiff and said. "Yes, you can. But you can only buy 2 of them at most, given the total points that you got. And I feel like it is a waste doing that."

Shin clicked his tongue and looked at Arthur with knitted brow before saying. "Tsk! Two of them are already a lot for me. I am behind compared to the players or your level since I just joined the game. And don't compare me to you, Golden Boy. I am not a 'Martial-Art Prodigy' like you who can create a skill out of a whim."

Arthur signed helplessly before saying. "Alright, do whatever you want. I am going now. I need to fix some things in the Real World. Just tell me if you are already level-125, so that we start doing my quest next."

And before he logged out, he suddenly remembered something and said to Shin. "Oh! Another thing. Go back out outside too as soon as you are done with the things here. Let's have a good sparring match. I am quite itching to beat your ass this time."

He didn't wait for Shin to say something more; he immediately logged out of the game after saying what he wanted to say.

Seeing that Arthur already left, Leonard also decided to logout of the game and bid his farewell. "I think I also need to go back now. My master will surely beat me up if I skip my training routine. Just contact me too when you are done with your awakening quest, I'll help with brother Arthur's quest too."

Then he also didn't give Shin a chance for his reply before logging out of the game directly. And with that, Shin and Cloe were the only ones left inside the meeting room.

"Tsk! These two really like to run after saying whatever they want," muttered Shin after seeing the two logged out of the game.

Then he turned his head at Cloe and asked. "How about you? Do you have some other plans too?"

Cloe pursed her lips for a moment before replying. "I don't have any other plans yet actually. But I think I need to finish my quest here too."

"Oh~! Do you need some help? I can accompany you if you want to. I currently have no other arrangements for now actually," said Shin.

Cloe's eyes suddenly turned bright after hearing that and about to accept his offer. But before she could even agree, a message suddenly interrupted her from doing so.

And when she looked at the name of the sender, her eyebrows couldn't help but from a frown. She excused herself for a moment to read the contents of the message.

At the same time, Shin's brows knitted together when he felt the sudden change on Cloe's mood. He watched her face as she read the message and saw that her eyebrows were frowning deeper and deeper.

Seeing her troubled face, Shin couldn't help but asked. "Is there some problem?"

Cloe didn't reply to him immediately as she read the whole content of the message. And when she was done, she looked at Shin and said with a sweet smile on her face. "It is nothing. Dad seems to encounter some problems in his business and will not be able to go home for quite a few days."

Shin stared at her for a moment before saying. "I see. I thought there was something wrong since I saw that your face was turning into an old woman's while reading that message."

Cloe was about to thank him for worrying, but the thoughts suddenly stopped when she heard the latter part of his words. "Who are you calling an old woman?! You are the old one here! Old pig!..."

Shin chuckled when he saw her acting like that and said. "Yeah, just like that. I rather see your energetic side than that troubled face of yours," while patting her head a little.

Cloe's mind suddenly turned blank once again, for getting off-guard at Shin's sudden 'ambush'. A moment later, she took a couple of steps backwards before saying to Shin. "Why are you petting my head again? Am I your pet?" while covering her head with both of her hands.

Seeing that Shin was only chuckling at her, Cloe just pouted her lips and said. "Hmph! I am going now too. After all, I still need to take care of Christian. I need to keep an eye on him since dad is not going home."

Shin smiled at her and said. "Just say hi for me to him," while waving his hand.

'What's wrong with this guy? He is not usually like this. Nevermind. I like him better this way,' thought Cloe to herself before saying. "Just make sure to remember your promise, OK? You are going to help me on my quest."

"Sure!" replied Shin almost immediately.

After that, he watched Cloe logged out of the game. And now that everyone left, he now had a time to look at the rewards that he got from both of his quests and from ranking first at the monster horde event.

He rubbed both of his hands together before saying. "Alright, let's see what we got here."

...