Child of Destiny

….

“Let’s see what can you teach me, that my Grandfather and Uncle Nathan can’t do.” said Arthur with determined face.

“Heh, made up your mind already? Let me remind you, my training course is a little different from your family style of teaching.” said the middle-aged man as he looked at Arthur provokingly.

“Yeah, I want to see, if what you can teach me can be really helpful for me to catch up with my brother.” said Arthur resolutely.

“Hm?? Brother? Don’t you only have an older sister? How can you have a brother?” asked the middle-aged man with a confused expression.

Arthur hesitate for a few moments before saying. “Ahm… He is adopted by our family 6-years ago. Even though we are not related by blood, he is still my brother. As for his previous background, I’m sorry Mister, I can’t tell you about that.”

“Nah, actually I’m not that interested with your family matters. I still have a problem of my own. I’ve just become a little bit curious, that’s all. After all, if you say that you want to catch up on him, then that kid should also have the same talent as yours, or maybe greater.” said the middle-aged man nonchalantly.

“Hmm… Yeah, he has the same talent as mine, but at the same time, he also ahead of me on some aspects. For example, he is a ‘Battle Genius’ with ‘Immediate Response’ talent, and couple with that, he has a pretty much strong ‘Willpower’ which give him a monstrous talent in ‘Mentalism’. Actually, he just became a Dual-Practioner just recently.” said Arthur as he boast about his brother’s talents.

The middle-aged man raise his brows when he heard that. Then, add a little more. “Huh? That was a pretty talented young man. Looks like you really have a tough road a head of you.”

The middle-aged man pause for a moment to stand up, pats Arthur’s shoulder and said. “But don’t worry, your talent is on par on him at least. So let’s formally start your special training.”

“First, let’s begin with your fighting class talent. You haven’t explored the real essene of being a ‘Martial-Art Prodigy’ yet. Being a Martial-Art Prodigy is the same as having a very high comprehensive ability. And having that kind of comprehensive ability, also means that you can learn a lot of things in a more easy way. But…. That was not all, that also means that you can understand things more clearly.”

“To say it in a more simple way, You can understand all the skills that you have learned, and that includes the skills that you are going to learn.”

Arthur listened on the middle-aged man attentively and get the main point, but he already know those, so he asked confusedly. “But I already knew about that, so what is the purpose of telling me about these?”

The middle-aged man shook his head and sneered at Arthur, while raising his right hand with only three fingers open. “No, you don’t understand what I am saying. Three! There are three ways you can use that high comprehensive ability of yours.”

“You can learn skills in a more easy way and can understand it more clearly.”

“That phrase stands for three things. First, you can use your comprehensive ability to learn skills even if you just saw them once.”

“Second, you can use that comprehensive ability to understand those skills more clearly and unleash their full potential. You can even transform those skill into something new if you use that ability properly.”

At this point, Arthur interrupted the middle-aged man and asked curiously. “Transformed into something new? What did you mean about that?”

“Ha! I almost forgot about that. OK, let me show you something interesting.” said the middle-aged man before taking a fighting stance.

He took a half-step backwards with his right leg before raising both of his arms with clench fists, it is just the typical military boxing stance. Then, he guide some of his internal Qi towards his right fist, before taking one step forward and throwing a straight punch on the air.

Swoosh!

‘Advance Military Arts: Meteor Shotgun’

Bang!

Once the punch punch was thrown, the middle-aged man’s fist release a bunch of internal Qi in front of it, resulting for a small explosion and creating a gusting wind. If that punch directly hit someone, then they are going to have a huge hole in their body.

“What do you think?” asked the middle-aged man.

“That was a typical ‘Meteor Shotgun’, nothing special.” said Arthur uninterestedly.

“Then, how about this.” The middle-aged man do another. The same stance, the same movements, but different results. Because this time, a powerful explosion was created in front of the middle-aged man fist after he throw the punch. And together with it is a chaotic gusting winds that are send in all directions, it looks like it created a mini-storm. 𝗯𝐞𝗱𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝗼𝗿𝐠

BOOM!!!

If the previous version can make a hole in someone else’s body, then this punch can blast someone into pieces.

“What!?” Arthur stared blankly at the scene not knowing what to say.

“See that? That is the same ‘Meteor Shotgun’, yet also different. The purpose of that punch is to throw a powerful attack to your opponent, just like an unstoppable meteor with the explosiveness of a bullet from a shotgun. If you get what I’m saying, then you’ll understand the second usage of you high comprehensive ability.” said the middle-aged man.

Then he didn’t wait for Arthur’s next words and continue discussing the topic. “OK, that was enough. Let’s go back to the topic. The third usage of your high comprehensive ability is to use it against your opponent.”

“If you can learn a skill even if you just saw it once, and can improve them into something new by fixing its flaws. Then, you can also do it in a reverse manner, like pinpointing the flaws of someone else Martial-Art skills.”

“Oh…” Arthur become amazed by the middle-aged man’s words. Then, he suddenly remembered something. “Pinpointing out someone else flaws? Is it the same as the ability of a ‘Gifted Adept’.?”

The middle-aged man replied calmly. “Hah! You wish. Of course it is different. A Gifted Adept can not only see the fault on someone else skill, even if they only saw it once. They can also immediately counter it, as long as they have experience it once. And the most scary thing on it is they can repeatedly counter your skills even if you manage to fix the flaws in it multiple times.”

“On the other hand, you can only study others’ flaws by looking at their skills carefully, while countering it is a different issue.”

‘But it is a different story for you, coupled it with you ‘Foresight’ talent though.’ thought the middle-aged man in his mind, before sitting once again and said. “OK, that is enough for now. First, take some rest and digest all the things that I have said. After that, I want you to restart learning all of your Martial-Art skills and study them more deeply. You should start with your Family Martial-Arts.”

“Then, I’m going to teach you how to utilize your ocular talent more properly once you done with it.” said the middle-aged man before closing his eyes to take some nap. But before he manage to do so, he remembered something.

He took out a map form out of nowhere before throwing it to Arthur. “Before I forgot, that is the map of the whole island. The red marks are the territory of ‘3-star Monsters’, they are on par with the Martial-Artists on ‘Core Formation Stage’. Kill each one of them while you are relearning all your skills, they are your target practice. BUT! You are forbidden to use your ‘Foresight’, or else this special training will be all useless.”

“And one more thing, do not approach those territory with black marks if you still want to live longer. As for those with purple ones, you can try, as long as you are confident that you can hold yourself against a ‘4-star Monsters’. And to warn you, I’m going to test you every 3-days to see your progress. So if I were you, then I’m going to take this training more seriously.” said the middle-aged man with a mysterious grin on his lips. Then, he ignored Arthur and close his eyes.

Arthur on the other hand, went under a tree and sit on a lotus position, for him to do some meditation. As for the so called ‘TEST’, he didn’t dare to think about, because from the expression that the middle-aged man is wearing earlier, he can tell that it is going to become an unforgettable and painful memory.

******

Real World, Soaring Continent, Main Region

Red Lightning District, Michigan City

There is an underground secret lab on the outskirts of the city. In this lab, a lot of scientists are currently busy doing different kinds of research.

One of the Old Scientist is looking on a data file that his subordinate have given him, while walking on the lab corridor. After few moments, he look at his assistant and said. “Nigel, How are the things about our new subject?”

“Professor Digen, Subject D-42 is a tough one. No matter what kind of torture we do, he is still manage to endure it until now, and hold on with his consciousness. We can’t proceed to the next step.” said by a scientist beside the Old Scientist.

The Old scientist called Prof. Digen frowned his brows and said. “Have you done all the methods?”

Nigel replied almost immediately. “Yes, professor. In fact, we also did the Method no.12, Sir.”

“Bloodline?” asked Prof. Digen confusedly.

Nigel shook his head and said. “No sir. From the looks of it, it is only due to his will to survive alone.” He pause for a moment to hand over some printed datas to the professor. Then, he continue reporting after. “Even though we detected some special bloodline on his blood cells, the density of those are too thin and almost negligible. It doesn’t even give him anything.”

Prof. Digen scan the datas and ask. “Have you identified what kind of Bloodline is it? It doesn’t written on the report.”

Nigel shook his head and replied. “No, Not yet, Sir. The amount is too small and scattered everywhere, so we don’t have enough amount to identify the Bloodline, Sir.”

“Hmm? Can we extract it?” said Prof. Digen.

“We can’t sir. If we do that, we need to extract a lot of blood samples from the subject. And that amount of samples is enough for Subject D-42 to die. It is not worth it sir, we still need him for some experiments. And he is the only one that can endure those.” replied Nigel.

“How about growing it then, before extracting it after?” suggest the Old Scientist.

Nigel thought for a moment before replying. “I guess that is possible, Sir. But we still need to nurture his body first, Sir. Because if we don’t, his entire body structure might collapse or worse explode, due to the lack compatibility of his body with sudden increase of the density of his Bloodline.”

Prof. Digen nodded his head and said. “Good. Continue what you are doing for now. I will take over with nurturing the body of Subject D-42 for now. We need to hasten the process, the higher-ups are pressuring me for quite some time already.”

After that, Prof. Digen give the documents that are holding to Nigel, and enter an experiment room.

Inside the room is a 15-year-old young man with red colored curly hair and crimson eyes. He is locked on an inclined T-shape lab table. He have a loot of wounds on different parts of his body, enough to make someone to turn their heads and not look too him because of the sight.

But even though that is the change, the luster in his eyes are still in there. And when he heard that the door opened, he directed his eyes at the two scientists that have entered and glared at them.

“What a strong and courageous young man. Unfortunately, I am the one that is in-charge on you this time. Let’s see how long that light on your eyes can last, once I started.” said Prof. Digen the moment he entered the room and saw the look on the young man’s eyes.

*******

….(Going Back to Shin)….

Shin just finished dealing with another batch of monsters. Then, he looked at his digital clock and saw that he have already grinding for another 2-Natural Days already, so it is time form him to wake-up.

He logout of the game to do another daily routine, he don’t want to left behind by Arthur.

After getting up from his bed, he immediately go to bathroom to take some quick shower. Then, he directly went out his room after putting up some martial-art clothes.

The moment he arrived on the garden, he immediately start some light exercise. First he begin with the ‘Yin-Yang Stance’ that Old Plum have taught. He stand with in a horse stance position, before moving his body in a slow left to right motion, while also feeling the movements of his muscles.

He repeatedly do it for an hour before doing his proper Martial-Art régime. After that, he do some spiritual meditation to train his spiritual avatar. Then, he do another round of training, but this time, it is for his Mentalism Techniques.

Shin’s entire training last for whole 4-hours, which is a little over than his usual daily routine. He started at 4:45 a.m. and finished at 8:45 a.m., so it is natural for him get a little hungry.

He went back inside to take another bath before having his breakfast. He is about to get back in the game when the head butler called him, and said that he have some guests.

Shin knitted his brows and become confused, because he is not expecting to have a guests. He shrugged his shoulders and went outside to see who they are.

….