Child of Destiny-Novel

...

Forbidden City, one for the Major Cities of the Saint Heaven Kingdom.

On the City Plaza, a majestic 5-storey building is standing at the center of it. In front of the building hangs a huge Crimson Skull emblem, attracting the attention of all the players that are passing by. This is the headquarters of the 'HeadHunder Guild' in Saint Heaven Kingdom.

Inside of the conference room, a bunch of High-leveled players are sitting around a roundtable. Some of them are chatting while others are discussing some recent events.

Then suddenly a slim Blood Elf entered the room and directly sat at the head seat. He is wearing leather armor from head to toe, and on both side of his waist hangs a pair of short swords releasing a dangerous aura.

All of the chatter and discussions stops the moment he entered the hall. It is because this this man is a Vice-Guild Leader of the HeadHunter Guild and a Godlike Player. He is also the officer-in-charge in the Saint Heaven Kingdom. He name is 'Bloody Edge' and he bears the Godlike title of 'Mad God'.

Bloody Edge look at present people on the room before saying. "OK, enough with the idle chats. Let's discuss about the main topic for now."

One of the players on the roundtable opens his mouth. "We shouldn't involved in this matter. It is just a minor skirmish between a Veteran players and a Newbie player."

"And why we can't? Our Guild is losing a lot of face recently because of it! We should at least put some bounty on top of his head." rebut by someone.

Another one nodded his head agreeing on it. "Yeah, we can't ignore it like that. From what we have seen, that kid should be at least a Ranker that come from the other game, and just recently joined «Destiny's Fate»."

"We can't say that for sure. And I've investigated that kid's fighting style, I'm pretty sure that he is not a Ranker from any game." said by one.

"And how can you say that? With the number of players around the world, you can't be so sure about that. What's more is there are lot of hidden experts." rebutted by someone.

"Yeah you are right, but we already have given an order to our subordinate guilds to hunt him down. They also have their own Elite players and some Rankers at their disposal." reasoned by another.

The discussion become intense to the point that the players around the roundtable are almost yelling to each other.

Bloody Edge listen to them for a few minutes before opening his mouth. "That is enough. We are not going involved ourselves on it. Let the subordinate Guilds deal with the current situation. But since the target is a Ranker Candidate, we should at least send a Ranker Candidate of our own. After all, they also need to have some practice target."

"OK, move onto the next topic."

.....

Meanwhile Shin is oblivious about all of that. He is traveling through 'Dark Swamp' while killing some monsters along the way.

'Dark Swamp' expands for at least a kilometer and a half. And since there are almost no Newbie players that want to farm in this place, there are a large amount of monsters here.

And Shin already explored half of the area, the first time he got in here.

"Hwoo~, The EXP here sure are generous. I'm only farmed here for half-an-hour yet I've already filled my EXP with additional 60%." muttered Shin as killed another 'Dark Swamp Serpent'.

Then he look at his surroundings before talking to himself. "I guess, I should stay here and explore the other half before proceeding with my quest. After all, it give me 2 day margin to get in there."

Shin continue grinding EXP for another half-hour until he reach the other end of the swamp. And the moment he got in there, he saw a village 500 meters from the edge of the swamp.

"A Village in here? But there should be no village in this place base on the map that I've downloaded from the forums." muttered Shin as he look the the village not far from him. Then he suddenly remember a topic regarding it. "Ah! That is right! there is a topic there saying that the Atlas World is also improving on it's own. And that is the reason why the World Map is also changing."

New Village also mean a bunch of new quest! Shin excitedly walks toward the village and while observing it.

The Village have a 15 meter high thick wooden wall around it, together with a bunch of sharpen wooden barricade below. There are 2 Level 80 Special Elites Guards in the entrance, while another 4 groups of patrolling guards walking around the village walls.

The moment Shin arrive on the Village gate, the two Guards give him a salute by putting their right hand fist in front of their chest while bowing their heads.

"Good day Milord. Welcome to our humble village." said one of the Guards, together with a series of system notifications that rung on Shin's ears.

*Ding!*

System: You have discovered the 'Calderock Village'.

*Ding!*

System: You are the first person to visit this Village rewarding you a 50 'Fame' points. And together with a pioneering rights on the Village.

*Ding!*

System: You have reach 500 threshold on your 'Fame'. You now reach the 'Worshipped Status' in all the Basic rank Villages.

.....

Worshipped Status(Basic Village): You are treated in the highest recognition on any Basic Village around the world, and you are given a privilege to take any quest you want inside the Village.

.....

*Whistle ~♪*

"Worshipped Status? Heh, that means I can monopolize this place as much as I want. Wait! From what I have remembered, I can also become a Village Chief if I manage to clear a special quest." Shin is touching his chin with right hand as look at the system notification. Then he formed a mysterious smile before he fully entering the village. But if you looked closely on his eyes, you can see that it is shining with a luster that looks like a thief's eyes when it saw a money that can be stolen.

The Players' Statutes inside a Village, Towns and Cities are also important. Because it is the one that dictates what kind of quests and rewards a player can get, and also what kind of treatment an NCP will give them.

The Players' Statuses are divided in two different major levels. The 'Lower' and Upper' levels.

The Lower level is how 'Native' treat a player inside a village. It is divided in 5 stages, which are Approved, Respected, Admired, Idolized and Worshipped, where last one being the highest. And this Lower Level Status is directly connected to the players Fame. What's more is this status varies on what kind of village you are in.

That is because Villages also have different ranks, which are Basic, Intermediate, and Advance.

A Worshipped Status of a player in a Basic Village is only equivalent to an Approved Status inside the Intermediate Village, and same process goes for the next rank of the village.

Then what if a Village is promoted from Advance rank? That's where Towns and Cities came in. A Town have the same ranks as the Villages, while a City is a promoted from an Advance Town.

Cities have a little more ranks than Towns. And they are Basic, Intermediate, Advance, Major, Capital, Royal and Imperial.

And the 'Lower' Level Statuses will become useless in here, but the 'Upper' Level Statuses will come in effect.

Upper Level Statuses or most commonly known as Social Statuses, were the combination of 'Fame' Stat and Reputation of a player. And that is also why a Social Status of a player varies from Town to Town or from City to City.

Social Status have two parts, the Commoners and Nobles. Commoners are the Players or 'Natives' that have a certain amount of 'Fame' but don't have enough Reputation to be treated as one with a higher rank.

Meanwhile 'Nobles' are as its name implies. Someone can become a Noble as long as they have enough Reputation Points to be convert into one, the more Reputation Points they convert the higher their Noble rank will be.

'Reputation Points' and 'Reputation' are slightly different to each other. 'Reputation' is only counted on a single City, while 'Reputation Points' are points that can be converted to have a 'Noble' Status.

And the Noble ranks that are arrange from lowest to highest are Baronet, Baron/Baroness, Viscount/Viscountess, Earl/Countess, Marquis/Marchioness, and Duke/Duchess.

There are still three more Noble Ranks higher than Duke/Duchess and they are 'Monarch', 'King' and 'Emperor'. But Reputation Points are not enough to reach those three anymore, because someone needs to meet certain requirements to get those three ranks.

But there are always an exception everywhere. One can also be treated as a Noble as long as there have a title equivalent on it.

For example, Shin's 'Envoy of Church' title. If Shin manage to be officially become an Envoy and get that title then he can also be treated as an official Noble.

.....

Going back on the Calderock Village. Shin is walking on its streets while observing its houses.

The houses inside the village are quite simple. Some of them are wooden while some are made in bricks.

Shin to walked straight towards the village chief's house, planning to take a quest. And as he continue walking through the streets, a lot of 'Natives' are greeting him.

And before Shin arrived at the village chief's house, he bump into the Captain of Village Guards. "Good day Milord, It is good to see you visit our Village. And Since you are already here, can I asked you if you can lend us your strength?"

*Ding!*

System: Quest Initiated. Captain Jack is asking you if you can lend a hand on helping the Village. Do you accept? YES or NO

Of course, Shin will not refuse such a good offer. So he nodded his head indicating that he accepted the quest. Then Captain Jack explained the details after.

What follows is a system notification together with the Quest Window.

.....

Quest Name: Village Safety

Quest Type: Monster Extermination Quest

Quest Difficulty: B

Details: The Calderock Village is just a newly build Village, so the safety around it is still not yet secure. Captain Jack asked you to lend them a helping hand on increasing its safety.

Quest Conditions: Kill some monsters around the village

Quest Progress (0%):

-Kill

Dark Swamp Snakes (0/50)

Dark Swamp Crocodile (0/50)

Shadow Wolf (0/50)

Shadow Boar (0/50)

Black Iron Bears (0/50)

Quest Reward:

+2 Level

+40 Fame

+100 Reputation Points

.....

"Sweet~♪, A Monsters Extermination Quest? But this one is a grade lower than my current Main Quest. So this basically means that the 'Monster Horde' Quest is really troublesome" muttered Shin as he continue walking towards the Village Chief's House, but he just only took 2 steps forward when a bunch of 'Natives' come rushing at him trying to offer a quest.

Shin become startled at first and stared at them with a blank face. Then he accepted all the Quests that are coming on his way.

Few moments later, Shin is done accepting all the quest. And he don't know whether to laugh or cry at the number of quests that he just have accepted. Most of the Quest are killing monsters and collecting some of their remains, some are about taking back an item that have been stolen, while others are just gathering herbs.

Whoo~♪ Whou~♪ Whou~♪

Shin is whistling a song as he resume walking towards the Village Chief's House. He glance at the sky while having a thought of "I hope more slices of pie will keep falling from the sky."

Shin finally arrived at the Village Chief's House. And when he do, an old man with hunched back greeted him. "I didn't expect that our humble Village will be visited by a Young Envoy of a Church."

Shin is taken aback at old man's words. He looked at Village Chief with disbelieving eyes, while also having some confused thoughts in his mind. "Eh!? This old man knows who I am? But that shouldn't be possible, only 'Natives' with higher level of statuses are the ones that are aware of my connection with the Church. So he should treat me just like the others in here, since he is only a Chief of a Basic Village."

When the Village Chief saw the look at Shin's face, he laughed softly before saying. "Don't be to surprised Young Envoy. Even though I'm only a Village Chief of a small Village like this, that doesn't mean I'm oblivious about the happenings around the Kingdom."

'Eh!? A special NPC? Maybe I'm just misunderstood it earlier, and this Village Chief should be really a special one.' thought Shin for a moment before replying. "That's not it Elder, I'm just surprised that someone can recognize me even I'm using this mask. And as for my visit here.... No, the truth is I'm just passing by here to take some rest before continuing on my mission. And since I'm already here I decided to give a helping hand to to villagers."

The Village Chief's eyes flash for a moment when he heard Shin's reply. Then he formed a gentle smile while saying. "What do you mean about that Young Envoy? It is a common knowledge to everyone, that whoever wears that mask is a Slayer of the Church of the Sun an the Moon."

"Anyway, since you already helping the villagers, can you also help me collect some things."

*Ding!*

System: Quest Initiated. The Village Chief took fancy of you, because you are helping the residents of his Village. So he also asked you a favor. Will you accept? YES or NO

'Another quest? Well there is nothing to lose if I accept another one.' thought Shin for a moment before accepting the quest.

....

Quest Name: Village Chief Favor

Quest Type: Special

Difficulty: A

Quest Details: The Village Chief took fancy of you, because you are helping the residents of his Village. So he also asked you a favor.

Quest Conditions: Collect the items that the Village Chief Requested.

Quest Progress (0%):

- Body of Dark Swamp Serpent King (0/1)

- Skull Dark Swamp Crocodile King (0/1)

- Head of Alpha Shadow Wolf (0/1)

- Head of Shadow Golden Boar (0/1)

- Head of Black Iron Dusk Bear (0/1)

Quest Reward:

+3 Levels

+100 Fame

+500 Reputation Points

????

Quest Penalty:

-5 levels

-200 Fame

A large decrease on reputation

.....

Shin stared blankly at his quest while muttering to himself. "Are you kidding me? Another Quest with an 'A' rank difficulty? But the rewards of this one is slightly different from my Main Quest. Then which one have a better rewards?"

Then he suddenly remembered something. "Ah!? That is right! My Main Quest requires me to get in the Seventh Outpost within 2 days. So... can I finish all these quests that I have just accepted before the time limit?"

"F*ck! That is what I get for being to greedy. That Old Geezer is right once again, 'Having too much is the same or as bad as having too Little'." Shin become frustrated when he realized his mistake. "Should I ask for Brother Lawless help?"

....