Child of Destiny

...…

As Shin was collecting the gemstones that were dropped by Gammarus, he suddenly heard a rhythmic clapping coming from behind.

He quickly went on alert mode, especially when he could not sense the presence of someone sneaking behind him. If the other party wanted him dead, then he would most likely been killed by now.

But when he realized that the other party did not plan to harm him, he somewhat relaxed himself, although not daring to lower his guard.

When he had gotten a clearer look at that individual, he realized that it was Falan, who was still emitting his usual powerful aura. From the lack of injuries from the latter's body, Shin could tell that taking down Darya was quite an easy job for this first-seeded candidate.

"Not bad, huh? You are pretty strong for someone who just awakened," commented Falan as he clapped his hands and approached Shin.

He then looked at the corpse of the giant devil lobster, which now looked like a bunch of broken blocks of ice, before adding. "Even for a World Serpent, aren't you too much of a monster?"

"Complete mastery of bloodline powers on top of summoning your Soul Weapon at such a young age – that kind of talent is something that can only be seen from the greatest geniuses of the Oceanic Races."

He then turned at Shin and looked at the latter from head to toe before shaking his head. "You greatly reminded me of someone. The resemblance is too great to ignore."

He then suddenly disappeared and instantly reappeared in front of Shin. He leaned forward to look closer at Shin's face.

He squinted his eyes while rubbing his chin before asking. "You-… Are you also from the first bloodline? A direct descendant of the First Ouroboros."

Shin was unable to respond as he was not quite sure himself. He just took over this body after the system had sent him for this trial, so he was unaware of the background of this avatar that he currently possessed.

After observing Shin for quite a while, Falan suddenly leaned back once again before nodding his head. "I've decided! I will be leaving the gems in your care."

"Eh!?" Shin was taken aback by the sudden declaration and looked at Falan confusedly.

Falan, on the other hand, chuckled as he explained. "There is no need to be confused. As a Warrior and a Watcher of the sea, our races are meant to work together in times like this."

"As you have already seen, some of the Kings of the Seas have betrayed the Sea Palace and sided with the Demons. As a warrior and a watcher, we must protect the seas from these filthy creatures."

"The Destruction Devils and Demonic Abominations are already hard to deal with, so it will be a great disaster if these traitors join the battle as well."

He then paused and summoned the Sea Gems in his possession extending his hand toward Shin. "The only way to stop these guys from starting another Oceanic War is to collect these gems and transform them into the Emerald of the Seven Seas."

"Only the Champion of the Seas can hold the emerald and use its powers to communicate with the Gods of the Sea, particularly the Great God of Primordial Waters, Lord Hydros."

"These traitors must be planning to snatch the emerald do something about it. I am not sure what they are planning, but we can't afford to let them succeed at collecting these gems."

He looked at Shin with serious eyes as he added. "I am originally planning to collect all of them since it is my duty as a Great Warrior from the Devouring Whale Tribe, but as you can see, I am being targeted by many due to this very reason."

"I have to entrust these gems to someone capable aside from my tribesmen. There is no better candidate than a member of the World Serpent Races, especially when your kind is extremely loyal to the First Ouroboros, who is faithful to the Great God of the Primordial Waters."

"And as a watcher of the seas, it is your duty to protect these gems and prevent those guys from getting their hands on it."

Shin slightly frowned his brows before saying. "But they will change their target into me since I will be holding on to these gems. What if I am not strong enough to fend them off."

Hearing that, Falan laughed as he continued. "You don't have to worry about that since I will be protecting you against the greatest threats."

"I originally can't go all out since I have to make sure to protect these gems. If something is to happen to me when I am holding these gems, then everything will be all for naught. After all, Octo of the Origin Kraken Tribe and Nuguro of the Serpent Hydras are difficult to deal with even with me."

"I can fight them with my full powers if I have to constantly worry about my well-being due to these gemstones. But it will be a completely different matter if I leave these gemstones in your hands."

"Even if I sacrifice myself to take down those two, then I don't have to worry about the safety of these gemstones."

"Given that you have taken down even Gammarus, who is the fourth-seeded candidate, I am confident that no one among the participants will pose any threat against you other than those two."

Shin understood what Falan was trying to say, but he was still not fully convinced since he was not sure of the full extent of his powers. The same for Octo and Nuguro, who were the second and third-seeded candidates respectively.

Regardless, he still accepted the gemstones since one of his objectives for this trial was to collect the Sea Gems.

Even if Falan did not offer them to him, he would still find a way to get his hands on these gemstones.

Falan nodded his head in satisfaction when he saw Shin taking the gemstones and keeping them with him. He then turned toward a certain direction before signaling to Shin. "We don't have much time left, so I have to ask you to follow me closely."

"I know that you are still quite weak compared to the others from your race but given the insane growth rate along with the overwhelming potential that you had, I am pretty sure that you can catch up to them in no time."

"We will be rushing toward the center of this realm, where the altar of worship is located. That is where you must activate the Emerald of the Seven Seas. That must be the place where Octo and Nuguro are currently located."

"We will not look for my tribesmen and our kind since we are in a rush, but we will regroup with them once we anyone along the way."

"Remember, your job is to collect the gemstones and protect them from being snatched by those traitors."

"You don't have to worry about how to snatch the gemstones from the other participants since they will naturally reveal themselves once they are gathered in one place."

"The gemstones will be attracted to one another, so all you have to do is collect all of them when the battle starts."

"I will make sure that Octo and Nuguro will not interfere with you, so you can focus on collecting them. Once you are done, you must head to the altar as soon as possible and not let anyone touch the emerald once it is formed."

"We will win the war once you become the champion of the seas and receive the blessing from the gods," Falan explained the plan to Shin as they were heading toward the center of this dimensional realm.

Along the way, they encountered quite a few creatures who were trying to snatch the gems from them. They had also found some of the members of the Devouring Whale Tribe, which joined them immediately after.

But the strange part was they had never encountered a single member of the World Serpent Race, which was quite puzzling.

At first, they disregarded these thoughts as the World Serpents headed straight to the center of this independent realm, trying to take down the traitors together.

Given their overwhelming force when they were together, Octo and Nuguro would have a hard time dealing with it even with the help of their people. After all, a group of World Serpents were a force to be reckoned with.

At least that was what everyone believed until they reached their destination.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

They all could not help but halt their tracks when they saw the scene in front of them. Right in front of the altar were mountains of colossal corpses.

Moreover, the majority of these corpses were from the giant serpents with snow-white scales, which were now dyed with a variety of colors from the blood of different sea creatures.

On top of the altar, they could also see some poles where more of the World Serpent Race in their humanoid form were currently hanged.

Shin subconsciously clenched his fists when he saw this scene as his blood boiled in anger. He directed his gaze at the pair of figures standing on top of the altar in the distance who were looking back at them with haughty expressions on their faces.

Falan also felt the same anger as Shin as some of the humanoid figures being hanged in those poles were his tribesmen and friends from other tribes.

These two started emitting an overwhelming pressure that almost suffocated those around them.

...