Child of Destiny

Chapter 2023: Discovery

…

Later that day, Shin and the rest of the group went home together while discussing their experiences with their club training and respective progress within the game.

At the same time, Shin had taken that opportunity to ask Arthur about the Wing’s Alliance.

“The founders of the Wing’s Alliance, huh?” mumbled Arthur while recalling what he knew about their background.

After a while, he answered. “From what I know, those founders of that guild are one of the strongest rivals of Irregulars, who also put the strongest front against them.”

“However, the one who is truly capable of fighting head-to-head every member of the Irregulars is the true head of the Wing’s Alliance, whom they addressed as the first Alliance Leader.”

“From what I heard, the current Alliance Leader – or should I say, the previous Alliance Leader – is the son of that founder.”

Reaching this point, Arthur could not help but mumble. “I wonder if that is the reason why those guys held him as a captive.”

“There must be another reason. That first Alliance Leader must have some secret on him,” said Shin while also trying to figure out the reason.

“Actually, I am more curious about how the Heavenly Taste was able to get such information,” said Arthur. “After all, it is supposed to be confidential information tightly held by the organization behind the takeover.”

A moment later, Leonard suddenly chimed in. “Let’s set aside those guys right now since it does not concern us that much.”

“What I want to know is what your plans are for the scattered members of the Wing’s Alliance’s escaped members,” he asked.

Hearing this, Shin could not help but raise his brows before chuckling. “It feels like you are treating our Gold Mountain as some sort of scrap pickers.”

He understood what Leonard was talking about. After all, there were quite a few people who were worth recruiting for, or at least adding them to the forces residing in the Gold Mountain.

They had already done this before when they asked those members of Central Order who had been forced out of the guild, who were currently running a mercenary group called Brotherhood under the lead by Legolas and Aragorn.

Leonard shrugged his shoulders before continuing. “That Black Hand is quite good. He is also one of the figures ranked high up in the Top Strategist List alongside you and Immortal.”

“He is dubbed as the War Maestro for a reason,” nodded Arthur, agreeing with Leonard.

“Moreover, isn’t that guy related to Big Brother Black Hammer? I heard that they are from the same family or something,” he added, recalling a particular incident when they were doing his Empire Quest previously.

(Reference Chapter 717)

“He seems to be the little brother of Black Hammer from what I remember,” nodded Leonard, calling that incident as well.

Shin was not clear about the situation at that time since he was not with them when it happened. However, he had heard about that incident as well.

He pursed his lips for a moment before turning to Arthur. “You should have a way to contact them, right? Then we will leave this to your hands.”

He then walked past Arthur while patting the latter’s shoulder.

Arthur wanted to refuse at first, but he could not say anything else after recalling that Shin was currently trapped inside a secret land.

While suppressing the twitching of his mouth, Arthur could only nod his head before sighing.

Shin then prepared a feast for everyone for their dinner, which everyone loved very much. After all, they were very exhausted after attending their department’s training. Even though it did not last that long, the exhaustion that they felt was affecting them both mentally and physically.

Such a feast pretty much restored all the energy that they had spent throughout the day.

After that, the boys went to their respective rooms while the girls returned to their villa, which was adjacent to it.

…

Swoosh!

Right after returning to the game, Shin immediately surveyed his surroundings before proceeding to head in a certain direction.

He was planning to continue exploring while also grinding some experience points along the way.

Not long after, Shin had finally come across a place that had a clear trace of civilization within the region.

The previous ruins that he had found during his initial exploration were all in total ruins, which were already turning into some sort of forest.

On the other hand, these ruins that he just found were still in a somewhat recognizable place. He could still vividly see the intact structures, which seemed to be the houses of the citizens who had lived in this place previously.

These ruins were still somewhat a part of the place that Hanzo and Solus had brought him initially. However, it was in a somewhat isolated place that made it hard to discover.

There was something strange about this place that made Shin furrow his brows quite deeply.

“The energy in this place is somewhat odd,” he mumbled while walking around. He also found it strange that there was no monster roaming around this place. “I can’t feel any monsters around either.”

He carefully advanced while sharply sweeping his gaze at the surroundings. To make it even safer to explore the place, Shin had even sent out his Elemental Spirits, planning to let them explore the area.

At least, that was what he had tried.

Unfortunately, he suddenly realized that he could not summon any of them despite how hard he tried. It also felt like his connection with them and his Reaper’s Realm had been severed by some sort of power surrounding this place.

“What!?” He frowned quite deeply, realizing the situation quite late.

He hesitated for a couple of moments before continuing his exploration. He felt that there was something in this place that could greatly benefit him or his Elemental Spirits.

After walking around for quite some time, Shin was still unable to find any specialness in this place. It was as if this were just an abandoned part of the huge city.

After failing to find anything noticeable about the place, Shin decided to look for the clues inside the ruined houses around him.

Looking for a random house to enter, Shin carefully opened the door before entering through it. What he saw next surprised him a little.

“What!? It is pretty tidy here,” he commented after seeing that the place was much tidier than he had expected.

Aside from the thick layer of dust covering everything inside, everything else seemed to be in order. He could not even find any sign of fighting that he was expecting to find.

Shin carefully inspected the first floor before proceeding to head to the second floor. However, he was also unable to find anything suspicious about this place.

Not even the remains of the previous owner were found.

Shaking his head, Shin proceeded to explore the other houses, but they also ended up with the same disappointment. He did not find anything noteworthy despite exploring dozens of houses.

“Strange,” he mumbled before thinking. “Don’t tell me everyone has left this place before the disaster struck the entire region.”

This was the only reason that he could think of, especially when thinking about the Elemental Poisoning that Solus and Hanzo had told him.

“It was either everyone leaving the region all at the same time, or they had been wiped out during the disaster,” he mumbled, trying to figure out what could have possibly happened to the residents of this place.

“There is also the chance that they have transformed into some sort of abomination after being exposed to high Elemental Poisoning,” he mumbled.

He leaned more toward the third option since he felt that it was most likely the case.

However, he immediately rejected the idea after exploring the area for quite some time. He could not find any traces of monsters living in this place, much less wreaking havoc in the residential area.

If those people had truly turned into a bunch of mindless abominations, then they were bound to leave a few traces behind, which would point him toward their lair or something.

On the contrary, he could not find any noticeable signs throughout the area, which made him very confused about the situation.

“It is as if everyone else has disappeared in a single night or something,” he mumbled while walking around aimlessly.

Not long after, he reached the center of the area, which looked like a central plaza of a village or something.

“Huh!?”

He then raised his brows when he laid his eyes on the center of the plaza, where a little fountain was currently active.

Right above that foundation was an obsidian crystal that constantly emitted a pulse of black-and-white light, which spread in every direction.

This light then transformed into a gentle wave of invisible energy that enveloped the entire area.

It was at this moment that Shin realized where the strange power enveloping the entire place was coming from.

…