Child of Destiny

Shin came back to the Forgotten Sea Temple and continued his exploration of the place. He was not done exploring the entire place yet when Solus interrupted him, so he had to continue looking at the other places and facilities of the temple before leaving.

He also had to join the others now, so he had to hurry over to the Divine Empire and play with them so that they could also organize their coordination before the main stage of the United Cup started.

“Given what we have seen from the teams participating in this tournament so far, I must make haste and familiarize myself with my new powers,” he mumbled as he walked along the corridor.

“Eh!?”

Not long after, he suddenly halted his steps as he came across a huge metal door filled with ancient runes that seemed to be forming a magic circle along with the mana stones that were meticulously arranged in a special formation.

He frowned for a moment before subconsciously circulating his energy according to the Boundless Ocean Technique while utilizing the ‘Primordial Water’ alongside it.

He then reached forward and pressed his palms on the mental doors, pushing them forward.

Clank!

Swoosh!

Right after the metal doors opened, a strong gust of wind quickly rushed inside the room behind them while a dense mana came out from the inside.

Shin felt like drowning due to him being squeezed in between the two rushing forces. Fortunately, he was able to quickly adjust the Boundless Ocean Technique into another version, seemingly turning his aura from a deep and endless wave into a solid lake.

After adjusting himself to the clashing forces, Shin strengthened his back once again and resumed his steps.

As he entered the room, he carefully swept his gaze at the surroundings and thoroughly observed everything.

From his initial observation, the room greatly resembled a praying altar that he had seen from the Church of the Sun and Moon whenever he was doing his class change or class ascension.

“Don’t tell me this is a Class Conversation Altar?” he mumbled as he continued forward.

But those thoughts were quickly disregarded when he saw a glowing sphere at the center of the room, floating above a stone ceremonial table filled with multiple runes.

As he approached the stone table, he realized that an ancient-looking formation was drawn on the ground and.

When he followed the series of runes engraved on the ground, he found that the entire magical sequence was encircling the stone table. It seemed to be forming a sealing formation, and the thing that was being sealed was that floating sphere at the center of the formation.

When he squinted his eyes to get a closer look at the glowing sphere, he realized the sphere itself was nothing, but a series of rune circles stacked on one another just to seal the entity with it.

“What’s that?” he frowned deeply as he focused his gaze on what was inside the sealing sphere. He even used his True Sight to the fullest along with his other techniques to enhance his eyesight just to pierce through the veil of light that was blocking his line of sight.

“Eh! Isn’t that-…” Then he finally saw what it was.

Inside the glowing sphere made from multiple sealing circles, an entity that looked like a young child was currently sleeping. It seemed to be a young boy curled into a ball as if he were within the womb of his mother.

There was nothing different between this child and a normal 5-year-old toddler in the real world at first glance. But what surprised Shin was the familiar scales at the corner of the child’s eyes and the golden tattoo glowing in different parts of his body.

Those tattoos were oddly familiar to Shin as he had seen them a couple of times already. The first time was during his time in the Trial Grounds while the other was when he was observing the murals drawn on the walls of the temple.

It was the same set of tattoos that he had seen on Falan’s body when he was using his bloodline inheritance and racial traits.

“Don’t tell me-… this kid is from the Devouring Whale Tribe,” he mumbled as he tried to peer through the sealing formation and read the information about the child.

But for some unknown reason, he could not see anything. It was as if a certain power was blocking him from seeing further.

But as he observed for a little longer, he realized that the child was not just a member of the Devouring Whale Tribe.

Shin noticed that there were some distinct differences between the two, particularly the auras that they were emitting.

This child carried the appearance of a member of the Devouring Whales, but the aura that he was emitting was somewhat different from them.

As Shin looked a little closer, Shin finally remembered what kind of aura it was. It was similar to the auras that he was feeling from his elemental spirits, particularly the elemental powers that they carried.

He just did not realize it earlier as all his Elemental Spirit Companions were currently inside the Reaper’s Realms and not accompanying him on this side of the world.

“Don’t tell me that this child is turned into an Elemental Spirit to survive some unknown predicament,” he mumbled as he tried to make a guess.

He remembered that a similar thing happened when Solus proposed to be his Reaper’s Retainer. She had to survive her dying body at that time, which was the result of her old injuries and gradual loss of powers.

If this young Devouring Whale was sealed in this place to make him survive a similar situation, then something must have happened to the entire tribe.

This kid must have been chosen by the tribe to carry their last hope when there was nothing left for them.

“Given that Hydros have said that Leviathan and Kraken have snatched his divine authority, then the Sea Palace must have lost during the Great Oceanic War. After all, those two have successfully become a Great Demon King of Hell.”

As his thoughts went along these lines, something seemed to have struck his mind, making him halt his thought process.

His eyes suddenly turned wide as he swiftly raised his head and looked at the sealed child once again. “Don’t tell me-…!”

*Ding*

As he reached this conclusion, a system notification rang in his eyes, seemingly confirming his thoughts.

System: You have found a fragment of a Fallen God, Hydros of the Primordial Waters!

*Ding*

System: You have been recognized as the representative of the Forgotten Sea Palace and the Champion of the Seven Seas!

System: You have met all the requirements to be contracted with God’s Fragment.

*Ding*

System: A Quest has been generated!

…

Reading through the string of notifications, Shin practically had confirmed his suspicions. He then proceeded to open his quest panel to read through its details.

—————

[Quest Name]: The Fallen God of the Sea

[Quest Type]: Hidden Historical Quest

[Quest Difficulty]: Special (Default)

[Quest Background]:

After losing the Great Oceanic War, the God of Primordial Waters – Hydros lost his Divine Authority to the Ruler of the Sea Monsters and the Lord of the Ocean Depths, the Oceanic Tribes, on the other, had been forced to go in hiding, trying to survive the hunt of the Hydra Tribes and the Ancient Demons.

The Great Ocean and the Seven Seas were lost and fell into the hands of the Demons and three Absolute Rulers of the Seas.

Unbeknownst to the knowledge of everyone, Hydros was barely able to survive during the ambush of the two Great Demon Kings and hardly managed to separate a fragment of his dying Divine Soul and put it into the corpse of a poor child of the Devouring Whale Trible before sealing it on his sole surviving temple.

He hopes to be revived by a fated individual who will help him in his revenge and protect his descendants.

But a very long had passed during that time, and the consciousness of his weakened Divine Soul had already lost its personality after a long slumber.

After countless eons and the fall of different eras, this soul has become a new soul waiting to be awakened into a new form.

[Quest Condition]:

Find a way to free the new entity and let it be born into this new Era.

[Quest Rewards]:

– Acquisition of a new Elemental Spirit

[Quest Penalty]: Upon failing to release the seal with the right method.

– Birth of a God of Destruction

—————

Shin could not help but raise his brows a little after reading everything about the question. The background of the quest was somewhat similar to what he had guessed.

But when he reached the latter part of the question, he suddenly started frowning as he found it a little troublesome.

If it was something like a gathering quest or something similar, then he would not have any trouble with it. After all, he was quite an ‘expert’ in this area.

But the problem was the objective was a little too vague and lacked any kind of clue about how to solve it.

He could only guess that this quest wanted him to break the seal, which looked a little too ancient even for Hanzo and Solus, who were the oldest among his people.

After all, Hydros was from that unknown era of the Gods and Immortals, which was too far even from the Ancient Era that this world knew.

“Well, it should also be worth a try,” he mumbled before communicating with the two and summoning them.

…

Solus and Hanzo spent quite a lot of time observing the entire sealing formation but could not find the right way to unseal it.

After all, what Shin was looking for was not just a way to release the seal, but the ‘right way’ of unsealing it.

The system would not tell him about being careful when unsealing the formation for no reason. A single mistake could lead to a God of Destruction, which was not something he wanted.

Just the name itself was so ominous that it could give Shin goosebumps just by imagining it.

“My liege, I suggest you look for a skilled and knowledgeable Rune Master to help you with this sea – preferably someone familiar with all kinds of runes and from different eras,” said Solus after observing the entire sealing formation.

“Even with our abilities, it will be too risky if we proceed with our respective methods. It will be better to be safe and look for a suitable candidate to do the entire sealing process,” added Hanzo as he walked over.

Shin slowly frowned as he inquired further. “Give me an estimate of the level that will be required to unseal this sealing formation.”

Solus was silent for a moment before answering. “Their overall strength is not important.”

“What we need from them are their abilities and knowledge about the runes. Everything else is irrelevant since all we need is to possess their bodies and use them as a medium during the entire unsealing process.”

“We will be their energy supply when releasing this sealing formation,” she added.

“Also, someone you can trust as well since the consequence of failing is a little too serious. It will be a disaster if they sabotage the entire process and release a vengeful spirit instead,” added Hanzo in a serious tone.

Shin fell silent before saying. “A Rune Grandmaster should be enough and someone on a Grand Scholar Rank will be the best.”

(Counterpart of Saint Rank for Blacksmith and Alchemist)

Hearing that, Shin nodded before thanking the two. “Alright, I get it. I will look for Rune Masters that fits the role.”

“You two can go back for now,” he said, sending them back to the Reaper’s Realm.

After that, Shin turned his head at the sealed Elemental Spirit for another time before turning around and leaving the room.

He also made sure to seal the door properly before opening the management panel of the entire temple to set the defensive and security features to the fullest.

He did not want anyone to accidentally enter this place while he was away. It would be better to make sure that the entire temple would ban the entry of anyone aside from those he had given his permission.

After making sure that he had done everything, he was set to leave.

He then walked toward the teleportation formation and activated it. Fortunately, it was still working despite such a long passage of time had passed.

“I guess the technology of that era is much better than the current one,” he mumbled before smiling bitterly. “Of course, it is! After all, Gods could still descend from a higher realm during that time.”

Swoosh!

Not long after, his figure disappeared from the temple and was sent to the Divine Empire.

Little did he know that what he just did would cause a huge storm for those powerful factions.

…