Child of Destiny

...

In the Prison Island where the third part of the exam of Magical Ace Academy was taking place, there were only four groups that managed to survive until the third day.

The first day was filled with high-paced battles which were also too intense for the young men and women that were taking part in the exam. And due to that, most of them were too exhausted to keep up with the intensity of the battles and were immediately eliminated after the prisoners started to fight back properly.

Since the place was being overseen by three top-class experts, no one died among candidates that were taking part in the exam. But even if that was the case, the groups that were saved by Nathan, Elias, and Eugene also lost their chance to take part in the next part of the exam.

In the meantime, the candidates that managed to survive up until now already secured their spots on the next exam even if they got eliminated today.

The teachers and professors, who were watching everything from the conference room, also discussed this matter. But after engaging in a heated discussion with each other, they all decided to let all of the candidates who managed to survive until the third day to take part in the next part of the exam.

One of the main reasons that convinced them was the cleverness of these kids to act in a low-profile manner after experiencing the high-paced battles of the first day. Though, the credit for that decision was supposedly for the leaders of the surviving groups.

But after seeing that each of those leaders was discussing this matter with their team carefully before coming up with a decision, the teachers nodded their heads in approval. And this sight further convinced these old people that their decision of giving them the 'Crown Emblem' was the right call.

Jean Campus and Diel Hendrickson, a pair of fearless geniuses that hail from Silver Wing Continent and the Dark Continent respectively which were also mortal rivals since they were young.

Dylan White, the wandering swordsman and the only son of a top-class expert who was renowned worldwide, the Sword Immortal Eugene White.

These three were the top contenders of this particular exam which also piqued the interest of all of the teachers and professors from the very beginning. They were already putting too much attention on these three before the special exam even started; especially the former two since they showed quite great results during the regular entrance exam of the academy.

In the eyes of these old people, these three already cemented their footing in this exam. No matter what happened from this point in time, these three would surely stand on the very top among all of the candidates.

They had strong battle capabilities, sharpened instincts, and great awareness of the battle. These three factors made them a top-class talent even among the Mighty Chosen Ones among all of the candidates participating in this particular exam.

They were also the picks of these teachers and professors who were going to take the top spot at the end of the examination.

But who would have thought that there was a 'dark horse' that suddenly emerged at every end of this particular part of the exam?

Shin Kinghad, a pretty much unknown individual before the start of this exam. He took the interest of some teachers watching from the conference since he showed a couple of nice decision making and amazing battle capabilities during the start of the exam.

But in their eyes, that was all of it. He might be an exceptional individual compared to most of the candidates but not amazing enough to outshine the previous three who took the interest of all of the teachers watching; especially that everything that he showed in the previous parts of the exam was slightly inferior compared to those three.

Moreover, these teachers and professors were thinking that his group was too amazing to begin with, so the credits were supposedly shared evenly among them. There were a lot of exceptional individuals among their group, so it was natural for them the last this long.

But that thought only lasted until the start of the third part of the exam. It was because Shin finally showed his real abilities from the very start.

Forget about the arrangements that he made when ambushing the first three victims that they had alongside the two dying monster beasts since it was to be expected given the lineup that their team had.

What shocked these old people the most was the style of how Shin fought.

Using Mentalism Runes during battle was quite common among highly-skilled Mentalists and they were already expecting that Shin was able to do that given the abilities that he had shown during the second part of the exam.

Moreover, they saw that he was a Talisman Master, so battling with Mentalism Runes was not something that they needed to be surprised about.

Instead, it was the way Shin used them and how fast he drew them during the battle. And on top of that, his speed in how he used his Mentalism Techniques was beyond their imagination; he seemed to be using them instantaneously without needing any kind of preparations.

At the same time, the teachers also saw that Shin was fusing his runes with a few numbers of his Mentalism Techniques which was a high-level technique that was only used by Mentalists who reached the Peak of the Grandmaster Realm; it was a special method that enhanced the power and efficiency of their Mentalism Techniques.

What was even more surprising about this was the fact that Shin was making this difficult technique look easy; it was as if the runes that he was using were a part of his Mentalism Techniques in the first place.

But this was not the only thing that surprised the teachers of the academy. Because Shin also had amazing swordsmanship to support those enhanced Mentalism Techniques.

His skill with the sword might be slightly inferior compared to Dylan White who was already reaching the level beyond the state of being 'one with the sword'. That kid really reminded them of his father during his younger days.

But Mentalism Techniques related to swordsmanship had their own charm. Those techniques were very versatile and very hard to deal with when mixed with the other types of techniques during the fight.

Pure swordsmen who only trained their 'Sword Qi', had some difficulties during a battle if their opponents were too close to them. They were going to have a hard time swinging their swords if the combat was not in their ideal range.

But swordsmen who were practicing Mentalism had it easy, especially if they were a Kaleidoscope Mentalist who knew both Psychic and Physical Mentalism. The issue of battling at a very close distance was not a problem for them since they could just make it up with their Mentalism Techniques.

And for someone like Shin who could easily draw Mentalism Runes in battle, such issues were even more non-existent especially that he was also good at hand-to-hand battles.

A Swordsman who was also a skilled Kaleidoscope Mentalist and a strange Talisman Master with an insane speed of drawing his Mentalism Runes – such talent alone was more than enough to put Shin on this same level as the other three that the teachers were putting their tabs on.

And on top of all of these, his strategic skills were also on par with those three. The setups and traps that he did to manipulate the island prisoners that were hunting them were beautifully made, making the teachers further acknowledged his performance and gave him praises.

....

"Mentalism Techniques imbued with Mentalism Runes, this style really reminds of someone," muttered Professor Cora after observing Shin for quite some time.

After that, she turned her head towards Professor Henry before asking. "What do you think?"

But she immediately understood what was happening when she saw that the latter was giving her a meaningful smile after hearing her question.

"Don't tell me-… he is-…" she wanted to say something but couldn't completely voice out her thoughts for being stunned.

Seeing that, Professor Henry further widened his smile before nodding his head. "You are right. That kid over there is the student of that Old Fatty. And from the looks of it, he really succeeds at completing the ideal style that he wanted for his Mentalism Technique."

"Fusing the Mentalism Runes with Mentalism Techniques completely, such thought sure is crazy since those two are in a completely different system. Most people thought that putting them together is an impossible thing to do. And going with the traditional way of using them is still the best."

"Drawing the rune and performing a Mentalism Technique separately before fusing them together is still much easier and more ideal when using them together."

Professor Henry paused for a moment as he remembered something before continuing. "But that Old Fatty stubbornly believes that a Mentalism Technique with a Rune imbued in it is still possible."

"A complete Four Symbol Scripture sure is interesting," he added while looking at Shin. "That kid may still be not proficient at using all of the techniques under this Scripture, but you can also see that he already mastered some of them."

Hearing those words, Professor Cora could only nod her head before finally voicing her thoughts. "Looks like that Old Fatty finally realized his ideals and even found a perfect successor to inherit."

"It is not only that Old Fatty," mumbled Professor Henry with a quiet voice.

Despite having a soft tone, Professor Cora was still able to pick up his words and couldn't help but look at him with the same questioning look that she had earlier.

Unfortunately, Professor Henry kept his mouth shut this time and continued to wear his mysterious smile.

...