Child of Destiny

...…

While Shin and the others were doing their quest, the people that Shiella had sent to build the teleportation portal were busying themselves with constructing the altar needed to make the portal functional.

Among the three chiefs sent to this place, Black Hammer, was the one who was the busiest because needed to build the altar from the scratch.

Compared to him, the others were pretty much doing a leisurely job. Tinker only needed to set up his devices in the perimeter alongside the unique gadgets designed to defend the surrounding area.

Adept Hands and Balle only needed to inspect the formation drawn on the ground to make sure that there was nothing wrong with it. But given Shin's personality, he already did a good job at modifying the whole formation and even changed the coordinates where it was connected, so those two didn't actually have anything to do.

Well, they also brought a few people alongside them to assist in constructing the altar. But that only made the job of the three to became much easier. And in the end, Black Hammer was the only person who was the busiest.

"It looks like the Young Master Shin has a talent when it comes to magic sequence and circle," commented Balle after failing to find any flaw in the modified teleportation formation.

Adept Hands quickly nodded her head when she heard that. "Well, I can't say that I am surprised. After all, I heard that he is a Mentalist in the real world. Given such a background, being familiar with these things is pretty normal."

"What I am curious about is Black Hammer's brother," she added while tapping her finger on her chin.

"Oh! I also heard about that! And aside from that, that person seemed to be from the Wing's Alliance," responded Balle as he nodded his head.

He then paused for a moment before adding. "I heard that it is the guy who named Black Hand in the Top Strategists Ranking. I first think that it is just a coincidence for them to have similar-sounding names, but who will think that they are actually brothers."

"I also heard that there are some family problems. What do you think about that?" asked Adept Hands with a whispering voice.

Balle was about to reply when Black Hammer suddenly appeared behind him and hit him in the head.

Pak!

"Hey! I understand that you don't have anything better to do, but stop gossiping about our family matters behind my back!" said the Chief Blacksmith with a threatening tone.

He then pointed at the center of the formation and continued. "We already finished establishing the stone pillars and also reshaped them to be a better medium, so start working now before I report to the young miss what you are doing!"

"Tsk! Tsk! You are such a bump, you know?" said Balle as he dragged his feet towards the stone pillars.

It was now his turn to do his job. And it would take quite a long process before they were able to fully establish the teleportation formation.

"I guess I need to do overtime work this time. I hope the young miss will give me extra pay for it," he added in a gloomy tone.

In the meantime, Adept Hands quickly changed the topic before she became the next target of Black Hammer's anger. "Is the coordinates of the formation set to Calderock Town?"

"I heard that the young miss and young master are planning to relocate it to a different location after everything is over," she even added to make sure to distract Black Hammer.

Naturally, Black Hammer was aware of her thoughts but chose to overlook them. He just threw a sharp glare at Adept Hands before turning his head back to the center of the formation.

He was silent for a few moments, making the Chief Alchemist feel uncomfortable. Fortunately, he quickly spoke before the atmosphere became more awkward. "I am not sure about the details but Young Master Shin mentioned to me that he was planning to build another city after promoting Calderock Town and relocating it."

"Maybe, they are also planning to make this Teleportation Formation to be connected to that city too. And when it happens, I can see those siblings taking control over this whole region."

"Tsk! Those people are scary, they are still looking far ahead despite the current situation that we are in," he added as he tried to read the plans that Shin and Shiella had.

"Eh!? How come I don't know about that!" said Adept Hands as she was surprised.

Black Hand gave her a sidelong glance before smirking. "Heh! Maybe because I forged a perfect equipment set for the young master which is why he is much closer to me than the other chiefs?"

"Tsk!" Adept Hands rolled her eyes when she saw the smug look on his face. She was aware of it as Shin also consulted her and Harmony about upgrading the [Nightwalker's Cloak] and [Dawn's Mantle] before. Or even fused the two of them together.

Naturally, she was interested in taking the project since it could test some of her newly crafted potions to reinforce the special ability of those cloaks.

But unfortunately, they didn't have enough materials for the complete fusion, so she suggested that Shin wait until she gathered everything that was needed.

She was also planning to use that opportunity to get closer to Shin since her instincts were telling her that she would be able to improve her potion-making if she stuck to him.

To her, Shin was a perfect subject to test her special potions since he was a magnet for trouble. He was bound to be dragged into sticky situations where her creations could shine and showcase their worth.

Alas, not everything could go according to her plans.

"Tsk!" she couldn't help but click her tongue repeatedly when she thought about that.

Seeing that, Black Hammer couldn't help but tease her. "What are you? A lizard? Why are you clicking your tongue like that?"

"Huh~!? What do you say?!" said Adept Hands sharply, glaring at Black Hammer with full hostility.

"What did you say? A lizard? You are the lizard! A fat lizard! A useless lizard-…!" she then started spitting out a series of words describing different kinds of lizards to insult Black Hammer with it.

She was even kicking him on his calf as some cursing words started to get mixed with the series of insults that she was throwing at him.

It took some time before she was able to calm herself down. But she was still glaring at Black Hammer sharply as if she was ready to murder him.

A few moments later, Tinker walked towards them. "Hey! Stop fighting for now and come with me. It looks like there are some rats trying to enter the perimeter."

Hearing that, Black Hammer and Adept Hands simultaneously turned to him alongside their curious gazes.

Tinker was currently holding a device projecting a 3-D map. He was continuously tapping on it as if he was controlling something.

It took him quite a few moments before he finally turned to the two and explained. "There are a couple of people who managed to sneak through the barrier that we set up but they immediately get lost the moment when they step on the illusion barrier."

"I am not sure who are they, but based on the parameters send by my scout machines, it seems like this bunch is pretty skilled."

He paused for a moment and turned at the virtual map once again before continuing. "Anyways, we have to see who they are. If they are really Immortal and the Silent Night, then we have a real problem that we need to take care of."

"Didn't you say that they entered the illusion barrier? Then they may have been separated from each other," said Black Hammer nonchalantly.

He then took out his newly upgraded battle hammer and clad himself with the heavy armor that he personally crafted.historical

Based on the effects and design of that equipment set alone, anyone could tell that they were of a much higher quality compared to most of the top rankers of the game. Or it might even be better than the Godlike Players, after all, he was known as the best blacksmith for a reason.

"You are getting ready for a battle already?" commented Adept Hand in a sarcastic tone.

Black Hammer tilted his head towards the center of the formation a little before replying. "Balle is already in the process of completing the altar, so we can't afford to have any trouble coming our way."

"Once they are done engraving the runes and activating the whole formation, we only need to wait for the portal to be properly established. Then we can entirely turn the tides of this war in our favor."

"Tsk! I can already see the faces of those guys from the Corrupted Cult when they learned that we benefited from all of the trouble that they gave us from this entire event."

"They make our Hand of Midas Trading Firm the greatest winner!" he added with a loud laugh as he thought about the state of the Saint Heaven Kingdom as well as the Guilds situated in it.

No matter how he thought about it, the Hand of Midas was still the one who would benefit the most after everything was over.

He now understood why their guild leader was insisting on helping the whole kingdom despite losing a lot of profit during the process.

They might have lost quite a lot of gold during the process, but in exchange, they would be able to 'devour' the entire kingdom.

With everything that they had invested, their reputation within the kingdom would become unrivaled. Not only with the players, but with the NPCs as well!

They were already the leading figure in the market, but if everything really went according to their plan, then they would gain full control over the market within the Saint Heaven Kingdom since they were the greatest benefactor in this incident.

Especially when it came to the Merchant Organizations that were being run by the NPCs since they had been 'saved' by the Hand of Midas. These NPCs would surely choose to trade with their guild first in the future.

There was also the matter of the Righteous Churches situated within the Kingdom. Since the Hand of Midas was the sole guild that was proving support to all of the cities, towns, and villages that got affected by the war, they would get positive assessments from those churches.

Aside from that, there was another 'gift' presented by the Corrupted Cult. This Teleportation Formation was going to be another source of income if everything went well.

Black Hammer could already see the bright future ahead of them after thinking about all of those.

"But before all of that, we need to secure this place first and properly defend it until everything is over," he muttered softly before turning to Tinker.

"Let's go. It has been a while since I stretch my body. I am quite itching to fight some strong people right now," he added as he rested his huge hammer over his shoulder. He was quite excited that he would be able to showcase how overpowered his equipment was.

...…