Child of Destiny

…

Shin immediately got immersed in reading the book files that Professor Henry had given him. He did not even notice that Benedict was already done cleaning the study of the professor. He was too immersed in his own world to sense the presence of others, which made him too vulnerable to anyone.

Seeing that, Benedit could not help but shake his head as he suddenly remembered when he first read the first batch of books that Professor Henry that given him. That time, he also entered a similar state as Shin.

It was not a special effect or anything special. It was just the result when someone suddenly entered the answers to his question, which led them to enter a state akin to a sudden enlightenment.

Professor Henry had this mysterious way of doing things. He seemed to be capable of seeing through everything and instantly identifying what his students needed with a single glance. Through it, he was able to see the problems that they were having and the bottlenecks that were preventing them from moving forward.

But instead of giving them a direct answer to their question and problems, he was always choosing the indirect way of solving them. He showed the way to solve those problems by letting them read the books that contained all the answers that they needed.

Though, at the same time, the students still needed to read through everything and find the answers for themselves. They might have a way to solve the problems laid in front of them, but they still had to find the solution for themselves.

Professor Herny believed that the students needed to be guided, but they still had to find the solution for themselves. He was always saying to them that if it was an answer that they found themselves, then they would remember it for a lifetime.

And giving these virtual books to his students was the way that he found to convey this message.

He would be introducing the ‘paths’ that they could possibly take, but they had to find the one that they felt was the most suited for them.

Just like solving a problem with many solutions, but always coming up with the same answer. This was what Professor Henry wanted whenever he was guiding his students personally.

Benedict could not help but smile while observing Shin. He always found it mysterious how Professor Henry was always achieving such things by just giving them some books.

“I wonder how many hours this junior will take. Our all-time best record is 8 hours,” he muttered as he found a spot to meditate.

From his knowledge, staying in this trance was beneficial to the growth of the individual. And the longer they stayed in it, the more benefits they could get.

This did not directly relate to the number of problems that one has or how hard to solve them. But it was targeting the comprehension and insight that one had when facing a particular bottleneck or certain enlightenment.

It was said that the longer one stayed in this state, the more their comprehension would improve and the greater the insight they would get.

There was even an instance that someone broke through consecutively after being stacked in their realm for a long time just by reading the books that the old professor had provided. However, this event had never been repeated since that person was a once-in-a-lifetime genius.

From what he had heard, the person also entered the special state for almost a whole day before the consecutive breakthrough happened.

But it had never been confirmed nor denied since Professor Henry did not say anything about it. They just heard it from their seniors, who studied directly under the old professor when they were staying in the academy.

Even though some of them remained on the professor’s side and became his personal assistants at the World Research Center, most of them left to find their respective paths and study their own research.

After quite some time, Benedict discovered that it was already noon. It was time for lunch, so he had to prepare the meal for the professor and himself. But despite Shin was still too immersed in his own world and felt that it was still too early for him to end that trance, Benedict still decided to prepare an extra serving just in case.

A few moments later, he was done preparing everything and brought the meal inside the room of the old professor. When he entered, he saw that Professor Henry had already gotten up and was about to walk toward the end of the room where the table for dining was located.

“How is it? Do you think he will be able to last longer than you?” asked Professor Henry as he took a seat on one of the sofas positioned on each side of the table.

Benedict laid everything on the table one after another before replying. “It is highly possible, though I am not sure if can beat the record of my big sister.”

Hearing that, Professor Henry smiled mysteriously and said with full confidence. “He will.”

Benedict snapped his head toward the professor and looked at the latter with full shock as he was having a hard time accepting it.

Based on what Professor Henry was implying, it seemed like Shin would not only surpass the 8-hour mark that his sister had set but would also surpass it by a great margin.

He knew how hard it was to maintain that state for long since the great focus that one had would continuously deteriorate as time went by. Especially for the ones with very high comprehension ability since their minds would be able to adapt to that state more quickly.

However, it did not mean that people with low comprehension skills could stay longer either. But they would only last a little longer than 4 hours at most, which was already above the average range.

The only way for someone to stay in that mysterious state for as long as they could. After all, they had immense willpower that would grant them the ability to hold for an extended period of time.

Thinking about this, Benedict quickly realized where the confidence of the old professor was coming from. “So, he is one of those people.”

Professor Henry laughed when he saw his reaction and quickly added. “I know what you are thinking. And you are right about that. That kid has the potential to last for as long as he wants.”

“But he will not continue after reaching the 12th-hour mark,” he suddenly said, which caught Benedict completely off guard.

“Huh?” Benedict was confused when he heard that. It was because he knew that the first time to enter that state was the most important since that was when they could get the most benefit.

Even if they entered that trance once again at another time, the effects that they would get would be far inferior since the ‘golden time’ had already passed and they had already experienced the state once, which would lead to having a certain level of immunity over it.

This was the main reason why Professor Henry rarely used this method when training and teaching his students.

He would mostly do it the first time they had met or whenever a particular student was facing a very difficult bottleneck that was hard to overcome.

Given the circumstances and the smart head that Shin had, Benedict knew that Shin would be able to tell how much benefit he was getting by staying in that state. And even if he somehow awakened from it, there was still a brief moment when he could reenter almost immediately after realizing what just happened, especially when Shin possessed willpower as strong as the old professor was saying.

Benedict could not wrap his head around the idea of Shin voluntarily giving up that chance and stopping after reaching the 12th-hour mark.

“It is because he has other tasks to do,” said Professor Henry while continuing to chuckle. It was as if he could read the line of thoughts that Benedict was having.

And before this student of his could even ask another question, the old professor quickly added. “It is not exactly what you are thinking. That junior of yours is just not fit with this method of mine. It is fine for him to use it from time to time, but it will not give him that much benefits in the long run.”

“It is because he is a Battle Genius. Staying and isolating himself from the outside world is not what fits him. It is to go into battle and grow as much as he can in each one that he encounters. The harder the battle, the stronger he can become. That is the path that is more suitable for him.”

“Getting insights from reading a book or two is fine, but experiencing a real battle will still give him a different view, especially the life-and-death ones.”

“He will instantly realize it once he reaches the 12th-hour mark. Anything more than that will only hinder his progress, which is why he will stop there voluntarily,” said Professor Henry, explaining.

After that, Professor Herny picked up the chopsticks laid in front of him and signaled Benedict to join him in eating. “That’s it for now. Come on, let’s eat already before this meal that you prepare gets cold.”

Benedict bowed before sitting opposite the old professor. “Then please excuse me, Sir.”

They chatted a bit while eating. Benedict also took that opportunity to ask a few questions that reflected the problems that he was currently facing, but the old professor stuck to his ways and referred to a few books that Benedict could read.

Benedict chuckled and complied.

When they were done eating, Benedict was collecting the plates and cleaning up the table when the old professor suddenly stood up and headed outside.

“You are going back to your lab already, Sir? It hasn’t been that long since you came back. You have to rest more,” said Benedict, showing his concern to the professor.

Professor Henry chuckled when he heard that as he could tell why Benedict was too concerned about his health. He then waved his hand and said. “Don’t worry. It will not take that long this time.”

“I just have to check on the kid that arrived earlier this morning and see the changes in his parameters. After making sure that he is healthy and there is no issue for him to continue playing the game, then I can assign your Senior Scarlett to take care of him.”

Hearing that Benedict seemed to have remembered something and said. “Ah! It must be that Wade kid that Uncle Brian has brought!”

“I heard that he is able to enter a special state of Hyperactive Immersion, and the unusual one at that. Will he be fine staying in that lab? The facilities there are not fit for his situation,” he added with a slight concern.

Professor Henry shook his head. “There is still some risk for him since his cells are in a state of extreme hunger. Fortunately, my friend who used to look after him is able to minimize the damage to his body, so recovering his peak form will not be a problem. A few nutrient serums and energy concoctions will be sufficient to maintain his health conditions.”

“As for the special facilities that are meant for him, I can just request it from the management. It is not like they can question my work anyway. Moreover, I can also use this opportunity to design another one for that junior of yours outside.” 𝚋ｅｄ𝚗𝚘𝚟ｅ𝚕．𝚗ｅｔ

Professor Henry was also thinking of how he would be designing an activity field for Shin since the first time they had met. It was supposedly a special facility meant for Shin to practice combining his Martial Arts and Mentalism.

And due to the recent incident that happened to the kid that resulted in his Martial Arts being sealed, it was slightly delayed.

But now that he had the opportunity, he was thinking of continuing with his plan.

Thinking about that, the old professor took his coat from the rack and said to Benedict. “Take good care of this junior of yours. He is quite special in a lot of ways. Once he is done, you can ask him to stay here or let him decide what he wants.”

“If he wants to leave, then make sure to close everything as usual and activate all the security measures. Then instruct him to come back again tomorrow for his physical training,” he added before exiting the room.”

Benedict bowed and acknowledged all the instructions left to him. After that, he tilted his head a little before continuing to clean the table full of dishes.

They were quite a lot, but fortunately, he had a high affinity with the space element, so he could put them temporarily in a small pocket space instead of carrying them around while moving toward the kitchen.

“Sigh. Why do I feel that I am a housemaid rather than a trainee assistant of the professor?”

……