Child of Destiny

...…

In-game

Atlas World, Saint Heaven Kingdom, Sky Deceiving Valley

After walking for quite some time, Shin and the others finally found a little settlement along the coast of the kingdom. It was a pretty small village, much smaller than most of the NPC Villages inside the game.

It was even smaller than the beginner's village that the players first encountered when they were still starting to play the game.

Regardless, Shin was still smiling from ear to ear when he entered the village and quickly headed towards it.

Seeing that Shin seemed to be acting like an excited kid who saw something he liked in the mall. "Look at this guy acting like a spoiled brat."

After that, she still followed Shin along with the other members of the group. And just like what Shin was expecting, this place was similar to the previous state of Calderock Town when it was still in the village rank.

So, the group immediately received a series of system notifications which informed them that they were the first players who discovered the place.

Ding!

System: Congratulations! You have discovered the Misty Village!

Ding!

System: Being the first batch of players to discover this place, you will be granted to have all of the pioneering rights within the village.

Ding!

System Warning: Please proceed with caution! The villagers are hostile towards outsiders.

Special Note: Bringing a large amount of food will be able to help you in this situation.

…

Seeing the notifications that were sent to them, Shin suddenly started grinning from ear to ear before muttering to himself.  "Giving us a quest from the get-go? How generous of you, 'Devs'!"

"Don't worry, we will make sure to squeeze everything here until its last drop," he added before entering the village alongside the others.

***********

In the meantime, Arthur was currently surveying the area where the HeadHunter Guild and Wing's Alliance were fighting. And just like what they were expecting, the battle between the two Powerhouse Guilds was devastating.

It was still not yet as big as the collision between the Central Order and Undying Guild that took place in the Blind Abyss Empire. But at the very least, the forces between the two guilds were strong enough to force everyone to move away from the battlefield.

No one dared to spy on the battle unless they were expert players that were sent by the other Powerhouses to observe the state of the battle.

After all, whoever got caught by either guild was going to be an immediate target regardless of their motives. To their eyes, anyone who was not wearing the same emblem as them was an enemy.

The other powerhouse guilds were naturally going to send their finest scouts to observe the battle. They were obviously acting as the true fishermen in this battle since they were all planning to devour the territories of the loser of this battle.

Or it was much better if the winner also suffered great losses during the war so that they could also try to rip them apart.

Unfortunately, the Guild War was still in its early stages, so the two guilds were still trying to test the waters. And because of this, the heat of the battle was still at its coolest where neither side was able to gain any clear advantage.

But all of these were pretty useless for Arthur who only came here to monitor the battle. He was actually quite surprised that the HeadHunter Guild followed all of Shin's arrangements.

Shin didn't care who was the guild that Cruelty was going to choose, all they wanted was to make sure that the biggest forces within the Kingdom were pretty much occupied while they were doing an Empire Quest.

And in exchange for that, Shin and the others were going to provide them with some helpful information regarding the targeted guild.

Shin already commissioned the Assassin Union regarding this matter before. He gathered as much information as he could since he knew that this was going to be useful for him in the future.

Buying such sensitive intel was pretty hard since it concerned the major powers within the Saint Heaven Kingdom. But since the current branch leader of the Union was pretty close with Shiella, Shin used that particular connection to his advantage.

Given that, he was able to get his hands on those important pieces of information without having much of a problem. But naturally, it was exchanged for the right amount of gold.

Though, he somewhat didn't expect that he was going to use those kinds of information like this.

In the meantime, the HeadHunter Guild choice pretty worked to the group's advantage since most of the territories that the Wing's Alliance had were situated at the complete opposite side of the map, where Shin and the others were doing their quest.

And since everyone was currently focused on that side, the members of the Empyrean Talons were free to do whatever they wanted on that side of the map.

…

After making sure that all of the other forces were occupied with this event, Arthur decided to head back and regroup with the other members of the team.

After all, the group that he was supposedly leading seemed to encounter a little problem. And he was planning to sort it out as quickly as possible.

But while he was traveling along the forest of a particular map, he suddenly saw something that he did not expect.

While the other members of the Wing's Alliance were busy with the war, some of its 'bored' members of the guild seemed to be picking a fight with their guildmates.

"Looks like the internal conflict within this guild is that serious. To think that they are still fighting each other even though they are currently in the middle of a war? I don't know if I am going to praise their dedication or criticize their stubbornness," muttered Arthur to himself before stopping his tracks and deciding to watch them a little.

He was not sure what exactly it was, but his senses were telling him that he needed to see why these guys were still fighting despite their guild's current situation.

Not long after, he was able to recognize the small group that was being chased by their fellow guild members.

"S.Tigris and his crew? Why are they being chased? Isn't his position within the guild somewhat special?" muttered Arthur after seeing them.

He then took a brief pause before turning his head towards the other group. And not long after, he was able to get the gist of the situation. "D.Romeo? I see. It looks like this guy is still insecure with the famous 'Saber Demon'."

Arthur continued to watch for quite some time to entertain himself a little. But it didn't take long for him to become bored because of the lack of intense action. All he saw was S.Tigris and his small group slaughtering their way out whenever they got cornered by the opposing side.

If not for the little drama that was happening from time to time, then Arthur already left this place to do his own thing.

The individual strength of both sides was pretty much in equal terms. But what made S.Tigris' group different was their perfect teamwork and unspoken coordination. They didn't need to say anything to each other to know the thoughts of their teammates. Simple eye contact was more than enough for them to understand each other.

"That kind of coordination, I wonder how long they fight together to hone it to that level," said Arthur to himself as they remembered how long he fought with Shin and Leonard to reach that level of coordination.

Aside from that, nothing was able to keep him entertained anymore which was why he was planning to leave this place. But before he was able to fully think about that, he suddenly heard something that piqued his interest.

He was not sure at first, but after hearing more details about it, he immediately became sure that he was not mistaken.

"My accumulated experience in playing the game has never been wrong when it comes to these things," he muttered to himself before changing his mind. "Let's get involved this time."

********

"We can't continue like this, boss! We are going to exhaust all of our potions if we keep up with this," said Raven in the party voice channel after assassinating a couple of healers from the opposing group.

"He is right, captain. I am already running low in mana potions, and I am not sure if I can still keep using my skills later if this goes on," seconded Ara before releasing a couple of magic arrows from her bow.

Ringo also nodded his head as he agreed with the two. Even he, the tank of the team, was starting to feel fatigued after fighting the opposing group for so long.

Hearing their complaints, S.Tigris suddenly turned to Black Hand before asking. "Are you still not able to lift the curse cast on our bodies? Without this, he can easily leave this place without any problem."

The priest couldn't help but wear a bitter smile when he heard that before answering. "Of course, I am fully aware of that. But how can I cast a channeling skill in this situation? Healing the four of you is already troublesome enough, much less lifting our curse."

They were still in the middle of discussing what they were going to do when someone suddenly interrupted them by saying. "Do you want me to lend you a hand?"

Boom!

Then a powerful explosion suddenly occurred in the middle of their enemies, catching the attention of everyone.

"Who dares to-…!" D.Romeo was about to curse the person who dared to interfere with their operation when he suddenly recognized who it was. Instead, he immediately shut his mouth and stared blankly at the newcomer, not even daring to release gas from his ass.

In the meantime, Arthur ignored everyone else and walked towards S.Tigris and the others while saying. "But let me warn you. Hiring me as a bodyguard is pretty expensive."

"Are you sure that you guys can afford it?" he asked with a smirking tone after seeing everyone was currently focused on him.

'Ah~! I missed this feeling. The feeling of being worshipped by everyone!'

....