Child of Destiny

……

Real World, World Gaming Organization Headquarters

Carlos was looking at the record where four of their problem children were slaughtering a pack of Lord Rank Wolves. With how they killed the wolves with ease, anyone would think that they were only fighting a bunch of normal-type monsters.

But to the developers watching the recorded battle clip, these people were only able to do such a feat because they unlocked one of the hidden features of the game. Though, they were also surprised at how easy for these children to unlock that special mechanic.

The expression on Carlos’ face was very weird as he didn’t know how to feel. If it was only a single person, then it was still understandable since it was about time for the Reality Manifestation to appear in the game. But the fact that all of them were able to discover it at the same time was definitely strange, especially when they were fully aware of how strong these young men were just a moment ago.

Earlier, just before these kids logged out of the game, the Monitoring Team already assessed the strengths of each member of the group. And from their assessment, they were sure that this group was still far from unlocking the Reality Manifestation. But right after they logged in back in the game, they suddenly started using the hidden mechanic out of nowhere.

Carlos studied each of them carefully and concluded that each of them had a different method of entering the special state where they could use the Reality Manifestation. This troubled him really hard.

After observing them for a few more moments, Carlos finally gave up and just instructed. “Keep an eye on them properly and immediately report to me if another strange event happened.”

Urgh!

The people around him couldn’t help but groan painfully when they heard those words. He was telling them to monitor the group ‘properly’, but their eyes never left these people since most of them were listed in the ‘Miracle Players’ category.

With so much ‘care’ that they were giving these young people, the developers didn’t know how much more they needed to it more ‘proper’.

“The boss definitely wants to kill us now,” this was the thought that was running inside the members of the Monitoring Team.

Carlos ignored the pleading look that they were giving him before pointing at the young man battling at the forefront of the group. “And this guy! Give me a detailed report about him every time he logs in to the game and also a regular update about his progress.”

“From the looks of it, he is the reason why the other three are able to achieve Reality Manifestation. They seemed to get an inspiration from him and become enlightened,” he added before taking another look at the virtual screen.

He frowned for a brief moment before continuing. “And once they clear that quest, make sure to update the system and announce the new ‘Battle Status Feature’ that will be added.”

“But Sir-…!”

One of the developers around him wanted to say something but Carlos immediately silenced him with a sharp glare. “I don’t want to hear any of your complaints. Since those kids already unlock the Reality Manifestation inside the game, it is only a matter of time for the others to learn about it too.”

“We need to be prepared for it before it could even happen, so we need to release the improved version of Battle Status Features in advance.”

“I will head to the director and report this matter to him directly, so there is no need for any of you to be worried.”

After that, he quickly turned around and exited the monitoring room.

*****************

Bang!

Arthur was sent flying to the ground as he tried to block the attack from Lupus. But to his surprise, that particular attack was much stronger than what he had expected.

“-30,200”

The ground where he landed sank a little, creating a small crater on it. There was also a huge chunk on his Health Bar, signifying that he suffered quite a lot of damage.

“+500, +500, +500”

“I thought I blocked it properly, but it looks like I am greatly mistaken,” Arthur used the special ability of his ‘Tide Bringer’ form to heal himself.

Even though he found it a bit of a waste, he had no choice since he was sent flying away from the group. And due to that, Black Hand’s heal could reach him at that distance.

Lupus wanted to ignore Arthur and charge at Cloe who was still in the middle of her prayers. But Arthur controlled his clone pretty well to block it off.

He then glanced at the digital clock in the corner of his eyes and saw that only a minute had passed. He clicked his tongue and shook his head. He closed his eyes to keep himself steady before charging at Lupus once again.

…

His battle against the Alpha Wolf extended for a few more seconds, making his appearance more pathetic. He might be able to chunk down a decent amount of damage over the course of the battle, but all of them were healed by the powerful regeneration ability of the Alpha Wolf.

Hu~!

With another deep breath, Arthur glanced at the digital clock once again and saw that he only needed to hold it for at least 40 more seconds.

But at that very moment, the momentary lapse in Arthur’s concentration seemed to be noticed by Lupus and suddenly started charging.

“What!?” Arthur was slightly taken aback by its sudden attack but immediately able to recover himself.

Bang!

He successfully withstood the charge after creating a barrier made of water. That barrier even turned into a huge bubble that was slowly growing and trying to devour the huge wolf.

But when the growing water bubble was about to completely cover the Lupus body, the shadow under it suddenly moved and sneak beneath Arthur’s feet without notice. And when he finally noticed that there was something wrong, it was already too late.

“F*ck!” after cursing himself, he quickly turned around and started running towards the group while shouting. “Careful!”

Arthur quickly used Charge Skill to catch up with the shadow traveling on the ground with great speed.

Grr!

Lupus used a skill to travel through the shadow and emerged from the ground pouncing at the group. And its eyes were completely locked on Cloe who was still in her prayers.

The others were completely prepared for such an unexpected to happen. Which was why they were already casting their skills and spells, ready to throw them to the giant wolf that suddenly jumped out from the ground.

But the moment they started focusing their attention on the Alpha Wolf, the surrounding wolves suddenly turned berserk and started charging at them like crazy. They even ignored Shin who was trying to stop them through his phantoms.

Shin quickly creased his brow as he saw it happened. He was sure that the Alpha Wolf used a large-scale buff skill that made the surrounding wolves more powerful.

“Tsk!” he clicked his tongue before quickly increasing ‘his’ numbers.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

He released the Sun and Moon Clones and controlled them manually after activating Phantom Dance for each of them.

He didn’t want to use this skill for the time being since he needed to conserve his concentration when he used the Reality Manifestation later.

As for leaving them to be controlled by the AI? He would not be satisfied with the AI’s mechanics no matter what. He already tested it before and discovered that the AI would have a certain limit no matter how high it was.

Not only their combat powers were limited, but their decision-making was also still not that great, so they would never be able to cut in with the current situation. Especially when it was already impossible to stop the crazy wolves from charging at the group because of the current state.

Swoosh! Swoosh!

Shin left his post and just controlled the two Clones to hold off the surrounding wolves for the time being as his main body sprinted towards the group, going to save them from the current crisis.

“Forget about the Alpha Wolf and cast large-scale skills at the surrounding,” he shouted as he activated the ‘Moonlight Steps’, consuming all of its three charges consecutively.

He left a streak of light behind as he flew straight back at them, reaching their location within an instant.

The group hesitated for a moment but still trust him and started throwing the skills and spells that they prepared to attack the charging wolves instead.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Arthur was still a little behind Lupus and already knew that he wouldn’t be able to make it. But he still continued to chase after the Alpha Wolf since he trusted Shin completely.

Swoosh!

When the giant wolf opened its mouth widely and was about to reach the group, a shadow suddenly flew over the heads of the others and collided with the Alpha Wolf, creating a loud explosion. 𝓫𝓮𝒹𝓷ℴ𝓿ℯ𝓵.𝓬ℴ𝓶

Boom!

The powerful impact failed to send Lupus flying but it was more than enough to push it back.

Grr!

The Alpha Wolf growled angrily at the person who stopped it. It was baring its fangs while glaring at that person.

It was at that moment when Arthur finally caught up with it and forced Lupus to dodge away the trident that he threw from the air.

Boom!

“I knew that you’ve got it,” said Arthur as he picked up the trident from being impaled on the ground while raising his head.

But when he looked in the direction where the certain person was standing, he couldn’t help but blurt out. “Who the f*ck are you?!”

What he saw was an unfamiliar Wolfkin who was standing in there and holding a pair of sabers in each of his hands.

…