Vol 4. Chapter 0: Prologue: Part Two

Anvika, the capital of the Crimson Leaf Empire,

inside an office within the Divine Capital Grand Hall, the headquarters of the Asumos Church,

a woman dressed in high-ranking priestly robes trimmed with gold sat quietly behind her desk, concentrating intently as she processed the documents spread across it.

The woman appeared to be over fifty years old, and both sides of her dark-green hair had already turned white. Her face had been eroded by the passage of time as well, leaving behind numerous conspicuous wrinkles. Nevertheless, despite her age, the woman's face still retained a certain mature charm.

It was obvious that in her youth, she must have been a peerless beauty among ten thousand.

The gold-trimmed robe she wore, as well as the golden-wing necklace around her neck, both displayed her distinguished status. This woman was none other than one of the three Archbishops of the Asumos Church, Pandora-Aisanovich.

Archbishops were different from Heavenly Apostles,

‘This is...’

After briefly reading the contents of the ‘urgent report’ in the newspaper,

Shang Mo, dressed in tattered clothes covered in mud and dust and looking utterly filthy and disheveled, quietly leaned against a massive boulder and thoughtfully gazed toward the north—the direction of the Great Winter Forest.

‘Enmmm, looks like Senior Xue Tianao's miserable death was most likely related to those Abyss Demons...’

Abyss Demons hated the Chosen Ones.

They would probably stop at nothing to slaughter anyone possessing divine power.

Xue Tianao,

that senior had clearly been so powerful and had even controlled the Snow Night Empire, one of the Four Great Empires, yet he had still been unable to withstand the Abyss Demon horde's attack.

That alone demonstrated just how terrifyingly powerful Abyss Demons were in this world.

Moreover,

the Abyss Demons had acted with such careful planning. Perhaps, just as the comments in the news suggested, there truly were intelligent high-level individuals among the Abyss Demons. Their sudden attack on Skyvault was probably not merely because of Flame Prison, but also because they wanted to eliminate Senior Xue Tianao as a threat.

The fact that Abyss Demons consciously targeted Chosen Ones further increased the difficulty of completing the trial.

Even Senior couldn't do it?

Then what about him?

Thinking this, Shang Mo lowered his head with complicated feelings and examined his own body. Looking at his height of less than 160 centimeters, his thin arms and legs, and the pitifully small amount of mana and battle aura within him, this new Child of Destiny couldn't help letting out a long sigh.

‘Mmp...’

Right now, forget being capable of standing on his own,

he could at least be considered frail enough to be blown over by the wind.

Any random Abyss Demon could probably pin him to the ground and wipe the floor with him.

His strength was ridiculously pathetic!

And being weak wasn't even the end of it.

Judging solely from the fact that he'd crawled out of a mass grave, along with the ragged clothing he was wearing, the original owner of this body was probably some homeless little beggar!

In other words,

he fucking had no strength and no background! He didn't even fucking have a single person who could help him! And his enemies? Terrifying Abyss Demons capable of effortlessly flattening an entire empire?! And those Abyss Demons were even consciously trying to kill him!

What kind of fucking hell-mode starting point was this?!

“Damn Goddess! How the fuck am I supposed to play this shit?!”

Shang Mo furiously smashed the moldy steamed bun in his hand onto the ground and roared in exasperation,

......

Enmm,

however, after cursing for a couple of sentences, Shang Mo sheepishly jumped down from the boulder and pitifully picked up the moldy steamed bun he'd thrown onto the ground. Then he resumed gnawing on it.

Sigh,

there was nothing he could do. He was hungry, wuwuwuwu...

After aggrievedly finishing the steamed bun, Shang Mo once again recalled his mission.

Complete the trial,

repel the Abyss Demon invasion,

destroy the Hall of Ten Thousand Demons...

Enmmm,

considering the difficulty of those missions and his own abilities...

‘How about I just give up and slack off instead? qwq’

There was no fucking way he could complete this!!

After another round of screaming internally, Shang Mo dropped to his knees, on the verge of tears.

His heart was filled with sorrow.

Because after thinking about it carefully, Shang Mo realized that even if he wanted to give up and slack off, those Abyss Demons—or organizations hostile to the Chosen Ones, such as the Heavenly Punishment Holy Church—would never leave him alone!

The moment his identity as the Child of Destiny was exposed, he would almost certainly die.

When those Abyss Demons dealt with Senior Xue Tianao, they at least needed an entire army to descend upon him.

To deal with Shang Mo?

Spitting on him would probably be enough.

Therefore,

he absolutely couldn't let anyone discover his identity as the Child of Destiny!

Moreover, he didn't merely need to hide his identity as the Child of Destiny. His original identity had to be hidden as well! If someone who had known the original owner discovered that he'd returned from the dead, they would undoubtedly spread the news everywhere, greatly increasing the chances of his true identity being exposed.

‘I have to hide everything.’

Shang Mo made this decision inwardly.

But the problem was,

how should he hide it?

After thinking briefly, Shang Mo looked with complicated feelings toward the dilapidated carriage nearby. Or rather, strictly speaking, he was looking at the tattered piece of cloth lying on the carriage seat...

A dress...

At that moment,

a flash of inspiration suddenly struck Shang Mo.

‘That's it!’

The Child of Destiny was obviously supposed to be a guy! If he disguised himself as a girl, no one would ever associate him with the Child of Destiny! That way, his true identity would be much easier to conceal! Besides...

He lowered his head to look at his slender body, then glanced at the broken mirror, where he could see his rather delicate features hidden beneath all the grime.

His physical conditions actually seemed pretty suitable for pretending to be a girl.

Sure, wearing girls' clothes might cost him a bit of his dignity, but if it was for the sake of staying alive...

It was worth it!

However, even after coming up with such a clever method of hiding his identity, Shang Mo still felt uneasy.

After all, his current location seemed somewhat close to the Great Winter Forest and the Abyss Demon horde, didn't it? If the Abyss Demons suddenly felt like charging over one day, wouldn't they casually trample him to death along the way?

Wasn't one of the main reasons Senior Xue Tianao had died so miserably precisely because he had been too close to the Great Winter Forest?

If Senior Xue Tianao had been from the Crimson Leaf Empire, the Abyss Demons wouldn't have been able to reach him so easily, right? Even if they did attack, there would have been plenty of time to react.

No matter how he looked at it, staying far away from his enemies was obviously the wise choice if he wanted to survive.

Therefore,

‘I'm going south!’

Having made another important decision, Shang Mo resolutely gazed southward.

Although he was weak, frail, poor, and hungry, for the sake of staying alive—and being able to slack off in peace—Shang Mo nevertheless resolutely decided to head south. After all, if he went there, the Abyss Demons wouldn't be able to reach him anytime soon. He should at least be able to peacefully and safely live out the rest of his life.

Enmm,

right,

if he was heading south anyway, he might as well see whether he could use the ability the Goddess had given him to find some major faction to take him in. With someone powerful backing him, he could live a much more comfortable life.

Then,

the question was, which faction should he join?

Tilting his head, Shang Mo fell into deep thought.

Just then, a column of text in the newspaper lying on the ground happened to catch his eye.

‘Hm? What's this?’

“The Black Rose Family... announces a donation of eighty million Origin Stone Coins and massive quantities of supplies to the Snow Night Empire...”

Hm?!

His attention immediately caught, Shang Mo slowly crouched down, picked up the tattered newspaper, and began reading it carefully.

Come to think of it, the Sadik Empire was located in the southern part of the Anqieka Continent, while the Black Rose Family's base was in the southeastern part of the Sadik Empire?!

Moreover, the Black Rose Family seemed extremely wealthy and tremendously powerful?!

And judging by the contents of the news, they even seemed to be a friendly organization filled with compassion?

They actually took in war orphans?

Given how he looked right now,

he should be pretty good at arousing people's sympathy too, right?

......

After thinking for a while, Shang Mo's pale-red eyes abruptly contracted, a brilliant gleam flashing within them.

At that moment, this Child of Destiny had already made what he believed to be an extremely wise decision.

Clapping his hands together, Shang Mo excitedly looked toward the south.

All right!

I've decided!

“I'm gonna go join the Black Rose Family!”