Child of Destiny

...…

"Let's talk about the topic that piques my interest more. The thing about the superpowers that you said you have absorbed," said David with a mystifying tone.

Even though he was with his master for a long time and learned a lot from her, there were still things that he was unaware of.

He was also there during Shin's birth when he was young and personally witnessed what happened during that time. He was aware of the innate powers that Shin possessed since he was born in this world.

There was also the time when he played and interact with the young Shin. In fact, he was the only friend that Shin had when they were staying at the small village within the Forbidden Valley of the Dark Continent, aside from the intelligent beasts residing deep within the valley.

And he was also present when those unfortunate incidents took place in that old home. He knew more of Shin's secrets better than Shin himself.

A proper friend and a good brother – that was how Shin described David during that time.

But despite all of that, he was still not sure what exactly happened during the time Shin had absorbed the superpowers of the mercenary from the last night's incident. Especially when he was not present during that time.

Even though he knew most of Shin's secrets, he was still not aware of all of the things that Evangeline and Adam, the 'damned' parents, had sealed within their child's body.

Fortunately, David had quite a lot of experiences after traveling around the world and exploring its secrets. This gave him a vague idea of what happened to Shin. Though, he was sure that it was slightly different from normal means.

David looked at Shin with an inquiring gaze before asking. "Have you heard about the 'Soul Devouring'?"

Shin could not help but tremble when he heard those words. How could he not know about such a wicked technique that the Evil and Demonic Practitioners were infamous for?

There were only a handful of Demonic Practitioners who were using such an ability now since they already found a safer path to improve themselves, but almost every powerful Evil Practitioner had that ability.

As its name suggested, it was a technique that devour the 'soul' of a person to snatch their innate powers and potential. It did not have a hundred percent success rate, but it could still give the user additional strength after using it against another person.

The scariest thing about this was it could make the use of such a technique addicted to using it. And once the symptoms of addiction appeared, it was already too late for them to stop, turning them into a monster that needed to be taken down as soon as possible.

Shin could not help but become worried about his well-being after hearing the question that David had asked. It made his imagination run wild, thinking that he might become affected by such a scary ability, especially when he possessed the infamous 'Seed of Hatred'.

Realizing his mistake, David immediately clarified. "You don't have to worry. I am not saying that your Seed of Hatred has run wild. I am just saying that something like that may have happened given your circumstances during that time."

He paused for a moment before continuing. "If I am not mistaken, during your Mentalism Reconstruction, a hidden power might have awakened within you and devoured the superpower of that mercenary."

"But it did not devour the superpower just for the sake of it, but it is most likely to accelerate the progress of your Mentalism."

Shin was slightly confused with it and could not help but ask. "What did that superpowers have to do with the progress of my Mentalism?"

David thought for a moment before continuing. "During the Mentalism Reconstruction, the unique nature of your Mental Energy may have also been awakened."

"The unique nature of my Mental Energy?" muttered Shin before quickly asking. "Eh? Are you saying that my Spiritual Force is starting to form? But I am only in the middle stage of the Grandmaster Realm."

"No, I actually regress back to the initial stage after the Mentalism Reconstruction," he added after remembering what happened last night.

David quickly explained. "You may have regressed back to the initial stage but the power that you currently have is at least as strong as most of the mentalist in the middle. Heck! You may even be stronger than them."

"As for the formation of your Spiritual Force, I am most likely sure about it. Though, it is not totally awakened," he added with a confident tone.

Shin became even more confused with what David was saying. But this time, he did not ask any questions and let David continue what he was saying.

David, on the other hand, cleared his throat before continuing. "As you know, when Martial Artists and Mentalists reached a critical conjuncture in their respective disciplines, they will be able to discover the true nature of their Internal Qi and Mental Energy."

"That time is when they are about to reach the Ethereal Opening Stage and the peak of Grandmaster Realm respectively."

He then paused for a moment and extended his hand forward before making a snap. And quickly after that, his Mental Energy was released from his hand. But instead of the common Mental Energy, a raging silver lightning was produced, releasing a series of sharp crackling sounds and dancing randomly in the air.

"This is my Spiritual Force. Its nature was annihilation and destruction which is why it took the form of lightning," he said before quickly adding. "Of course, not all Mental Energy with the nature of annihilation and destruction took this form. Sometimes, they took the form of violent flame."

"The so-called form of Mental Energy is not final and it varies from one person to another. This concerns a lot of factors that affect their form such as their battle style, innate attributes, and the discipline that they are practicing."

"The more you explore and improve your discipline, the more you understand its nature and discover your innate attributes."

"This works in both Martial Arts and Mentalism as they have their unique Natural Force and Spiritual Force respectively."

With another pause, David snapped his fingers once again which led to his Mental Energy changing for another time. And at this moment, the silver lightning turned into a sphere of water.

"Some people have more than one innate attribute," he then continued.

"My silver lightning is my innate attribute which also runs through my bloodline. On the other hand, the water attribute comes from the discipline that I am practicing, the 'Myriad Manifestation Method', which has a lot of forms and great flexibility."

"I have awakened these attributes when I am about to break through to the peak stage of the Grandmaster Realm. And for me to reach that stage, I have to combine the two attributes together and turn them into a unique Spiritual Force."

Pausing and snapping for another time, the Mental Energy that he was releasing took another change as the two attributes started merging together. Then a cluster of water appeared above his palm with an everchanging form while a continuous flow of crackling lightning danced alongside it.

"I call this personal Spiritual Force, I call it the 'Flowing Storm Force'," he added.

Shin knitted his brow for a moment before asking. "I understand its principle, but what is its connection with the superpowers that I have absorbed and the change in my Mental Energy?"

David flicked his wrist to retrieve his Spiritual Force and answered. "If I am not mistaken, the major attribute of your Mentalism Method is related to fire. And it not only has the nature of destruction but also the nature of creation, which explains why it has healing properties."

"As for how it is related to the superpowers that you have absorbed, it is most likely because of the Mentalism Reconstruction that you triggered last night."

"While you are undergoing that phenomenon, you may have subconsciously awakened one of your innate attributes or the nature of your Mentalism."

"And since it has sensed a similar power that can hasten its progress and strengthen itself, you have most likely absorbed and fused it with your Mentalism by instincts, resulting in what you have right now."

Furrowing his eyebrow, David could not help but add. "Based on this, I am suspecting that your 'Four Symbol Scripture' has three more attributes which correspond with the natures that they represent."

"Tsk! Now I understand why Master is saying that Grandmaster Benn is one of the brightest and wisest Mentalists in the world," David clicked his tongue as he commented. "To think that he can create such an amazing Mentalism Method? He sure is something."

"Now, all of those people, who mocked and belittle him because he delayed his mentalism attainment in exchange for his research, will be banging themselves on the wall after hearing about this."

Shin stared blankly at David as he clearly understood what his senior brother was trying to say. He was already aware of the amazingness of his Mentalism Method after learning the strength of his battle style, which was the combination of the orthodox method and mentalism runes in the battle.

But learning that it could possibly have four types of innate attributes due to the different nature of each mentalism method that the 'Four Symbol Scripture' had, he felt that he was a little overpowered.

Understanding what was running inside his junior brother's head, David could not help but wake up the latter with a bucket of cold water. "Don't get too ahead of yourself. Having multiple attributes is not necessarily mean that you are better than the others."

"Having multiple attributes can give you a lot of flexibility. You can have a greater variety of types of approaches in a fight. Something like having multiple solutions in different kinds of problems."

"However, this also means that the analysis and judgment needed to accurately choose the most efficient, effective, and ideal answer is much more difficult. The more choices you have, the harder it is to choose correctly. Furthermore, the longer it takes to choose, the harder it is for you to fight."

"This is just one of the downsides. The other is you can hone just a single attribute since you have to maintain the balance that they have. If you lean on one side a little too much and neglect even a single one of them, then the balance will instantly crumble and you will lose the edge that you are supposed to have."

Shin smiled bitterly as he was also aware of that matter. He nodded his head and replied. "I understand, Senior Brother," losing the initial excitement that he had.

David nodded his head in satisfaction before continuing. "Anyway, you can expect that you will be able to awaken an attribute of your Mentalism Method each time you have a minor breakthrough starting today."

"It is just my suspicion, but I have full confidence that it is most likely the case. Though, I also suggest you try studying each of the methods of your 'Four Symbol Scripture' a little deeper to know more about their secrets."

"It is your mentalism path, so I can help you much about it aside from sharing my experiences when I am in your stage. I can also share some of the knowledge that I have accumulated after roaming around the world."

"But I must warn you, the path that you are currently taking is going to be a very bumpy one. After all, you also have the 'Jade Kirin Scripture' to study as well as the swordsmanship that you have recently re-discovered."

"This is another downside of practicing multiple disciplines at the same time. Managing your time in learning them also has to be considered."

"Though, you will obviously be very powerful if you manage to persevere until the end," said David will adding a little as he remembered something. "Maybe the sealing of your Martial Arts is a blessing in disguise since you can solely focus on your Mentalism practice right now."

After that, David suddenly said with great interest. "But still, what I am most curious about is the ability that you subconsciously awaken last night. The one that let you absorb the superpower of that mercenary."

Remembering that, Shin could not help but nod his head and curiously thought. "I am also interested in that. Unfortunately, I don't know how to use it since I have no idea what happens during that time."

It was at this point when David suddenly said with a mystifying tone. "Actually, we can ask someone about it."

Shin quickly turned to David when he heard those words and immediately asked. "Quick, tell me! Who is it?"

"I originally want to ask the Old Geezer and Old Fatty, but it looks like those two are busy with an important mission once again given that I can't contact them even with the special communication device that they have given me," he added while wearing a deep frown.

David could not help but shake his head because of how Shin addressed his masters, who were respectively elders in their respective fields. If he tried to call his master, Evangeline, with something similar, then he will find himself hanging upside-down at the center of the forbidden valley for an entire week at the very least.

Regardless, he continued and asked. "The next school semester is about to start on the day after tomorrow, right?"

He did not wait for Shin to answer as he quickly added "And you are also a part of the Research Department. Professor Henry is very knowledgeable. You can ask him about it and we will surely get an answer that will satisfy our curiosity."

...…historical