Child of Destiny

......

"The Boundless Ocean," Shin mumbled as the inspirations continued to flash in his eyes while his body was moving automatically to avoid all the attacks of the other participants.

He then closed his eyes while moving left and right to dodge the attacks directed at him. His mind was focusing on the flow of energy within his body while his body continued to move on its own, dodging everything.

As he was doing this, he imagined himself as the part of the 'ocean' that embraced him. He then felt that the energy that was flowing within him became formless and unpredictable like the water of the ocean.

This flow of energy sometimes resembled the raging waves of the sea or the calm surface of the lake. It could even solidify itself like a frozen river or possess an unstoppable force of a fall.

It constantly changed depending on Shin's will.

As his breathing repeatedly changed according to his thoughts – seemingly looking for its real form – he entered a state similar to when he was using the other three breathing techniques that he already possessed but with a different sensation.

In this state, Shin could sense his surroundings. It further heightened his already sharp senses that were being reinforced by his powerful Spiritual Sense.

Everything in his surroundings was reflected in his mind. It was as if his physical world was reflected by the clear surface of a mirror-like water.

This gave him the ability to read the movements of his opponents along with the intentions hidden behind every action.

It felt like he was standing on the surface of a calm water while the other participants and their movements were creating countless ripples on it like how even the minuscule actions within the water produced countless disturbances.

These disturbances became the root that made their future actions somewhat foreseeable.

Swoosh!

The moment Shin opened his eyes and activated his True Sight along with this state, everything around him became much clearer.

This was different from the Foresight Talent which could accurately read the intentions of the opposing side and could read the actions of other people in an instant since it had its flaws.

But Shin could just patch those errors with his Immediate Response Talent by reacting to the constant and unpredictable changes much faster.

This was the unique breathing technique that this vessel Shin possessed. It gave him a clearer mind for fast and accurate judgment, which could also read the changes in the surroundings.

On top of that, he could also use this technique to read the flow of disturbances in the air caused by both physical actions and energy flow to further strengthen his prediction. Experience new tales on empiren/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

At the same time, his control over his energy flow became much easier and smoother. However, the element that he could currently use at this moment was water.

But in exchange for not being able to control the other elements, Shin was able to command the Water Elemental Mana with complete ease as if he was a sovereign of the sea.

With this breathing, he could also replenish his already exhausted and almost empty energy core.

The moment when Shin successfully entered this state, his control over this unfamiliar body quickly followed. His control over his limbs and other parts of his body became second nature as if it was his true body to begin with.

He could even control even the smallest cell within his body, giving him absolute control over it.

He then realized how those other Nagas were able to move their bodies that well and possess such a powerful and almost inexhaustible energy.

With such elaborate control over their bodies, unleashing their potential to the fullest was an expected result.

Possessing the ability to read the flow of energy in the air and having complete authority over their respective energies gave them a better edge against other mages. After all, they could read the intentions of their opponents while also having a faster casting time due to their superior mana control at the same time.

This breathing technique was without a doubt one of the best techniques that Shin found. But he could not say that it was far superior to the other three breathing techniques that he had already learned since they had their respective charms.

He just could not showcase their full potential due to his lack of true understanding of them.

Unlike this breathing technique that he currently using, which also happened to perfectly compliment his current vessel, Shin had yet to fully explore the true capabilities of those techniques.

He just realized this after experiencing this mysterious breathing technique along with the inspirations that he had gotten just now.

Countless ideas started floating inside his head that he wanted to try with the other techniques at this moment. But all of them had to wait until later since he could not do them with the current situation.

The unique ability of the vessel Shin had was the superior senses that it possessed, so Shin had to take advantage of it to survive as many rounds as possible in this tournament.

But he would not just blindly follow the system. Since he was already in this, he would do his best to win it all. However, he knew that it would be challenging since the other participants were much more powerful than his current self, particularly those other Nagas and the ones leading the rankings.

If he wanted to stand on the same ground as them, then he had to pour quite a lot of effort into it.

First, he had to familiarize himself more with this vessel and explore what other abilities it had. He also had to make this mysterious breathing technique his own. After all, he did not know whether he would forget about it once he exited this place and returned to his true avatar.

He was also not sure if the sensation and the overall feeling with be the same, so he had to familiarize himself with this technique as much as he could and turn it into a breathing technique that he could use both inside the game and the real world without any issues.

"Since this is no different from the breath of the ocean, let's call it the Boundless Ocean Technique for the time being."

As he mumbled these words, Shin felt an intense killing intent directed at him.

He did not even hesitate to halt his steps before jumping backward to dodge.

Swoosh!

But to his surprise, the trajectory of the attack changed midway, and chased after him as if the other party was already expecting this to happen.

If it was Shin from a few moments earlier, then there was no way for him to survive this attack as it accurately predicted his movements and was fast enough to surpass his Immediate Response.

Unfortunately, Shin had already surpassed his previous self, who could not even properly control his body.

His mind was clearer while his reaction speed was much faster, so dealing with this kind of attack would never be a problem.

With that, Shin suddenly laid himself in the air to dodge the sharp sword that was threatening to cut his neck.

Swoosh!

He then twisted his body in the air and did a spin-roll while swinging his tail toward his assailant.

Swoosh!

His counterattack came a little too fast, which caught the opposing side somewhat flustered. But they quickly recovered themselves and used the momentum of their previous actions to continue moving forward, flying fast Shin.

Shin then landed on one foot with his body facing the ground. He did not even lift his head when he kicked behind him, sending another participant flying with a kick, who was trying to take advantage of his situation.

Not long after, Shin was assaulted from every direction by the other participants nearby.

Shin became confused when this happened. He was already being besieged from every direction earlier, but all those assailants were not as aggressive as these guys.

Moreover, their attacks were also becoming well-coordinated on top of being more intense and much more powerful compared to the previous ones.

It was as if someone was organizing their battle formation and orchestrating everything.

But instead of being flustered by the sudden change, Shin smiled and welcomed all the pressure. He would be treating this challenge as an opportunity to further familiarize himself with this 'Boundless Ocean Technique' that he just learned.

It was also at that moment when he heard someone's voice coming from behind the participants who were attacking him.

"I wanted to ignore you at first, but it seems like I have to eliminate you early as you carried the most dangerous scent among everyone here."

From that place, Shin could see a sea creature that seemed to be a hybrid of an octopus and a human.

It had a humanoid head but possessed sticky tentacles around its chin and jaw, seemingly acting as a beard. It also had four arms similar to humans while having multiple tentacles on its back.

Before Shin could even ask what kind of abomination it was, another voice suddenly came from another direction and chimed in the conversation.

"You Krakens have always been shrewd. Trying to use numbers to exhaust others before taking advantage of the situation has always been your dirty work."

When Shin turned his head toward that direction, he saw a familiar Naga walking toward them. It was the same Naga that he somewhat helped during the early stages of the royal rumble.

The sea creature addressed as a 'Kraken' turned its head to his Naga and squinted its eyes. "If we are talking about being shrewd, then I must say Murlocs are the number one in such aspect."

He then paused for a moment before continuing. "And you, World Serpents, will never understand the struggles of weaker beings."

As the Kraken said those words, another creature joined in and laughed. "A Kraken claiming himself as a weaker being? If Octo hears that, he will kill you for being such a disgrace."

This sea creature was another humanoid one. This sea creature had a muscular build, which seemed to be similar to those bodybuilders from the real world.

Shin did not need to know which race this one came from as it was already displayed above its head.

"Whale Tribe?" Shin mumbled as he started turning his head toward other directions and saw that the other powerful participants were starting to gather at this spot.

He did not know why they were heading here, but he knew that this spelled trouble.

"Tsk! I just want to 'peacefully' familiarize myself with my new technique. Why are you guys taking this too seriously?" he complained along with the twitching corners of his mouth.

......