......
Swoosh!
The expression on Shin's face turned serious when he saw that he was about to be pulled inside the body of the Treant. He quickly urged his Mental Energy to surround his body and even ignited his Fire Innate Attribute to ward off the approaching vines.
Unfortunately, those vines did not care about the flames covering Shin's body and wrapped themselves around his arms, legs, and torso before pulling him inside.
Swoosh!
Getting ready for what was about to come, Shin squinted his eyes while keeping the True Sight active.
He was expecting a mental attack that would suddenly launch at him, trying to invade his mind. It would most likely be the 'consciousness' of the inheritance tome that would try to take over his body.
But to his surprise, nothing had happened even if he waited for a long time. Aside from feeling that his body submerged into a deep abyss filled with darkness, he could not feel anything.
It was as if he was left floating into nothingness.
Or transported into another dimension rather than being pulled into the body of the Treat.
However, he naturally did not let his guard down as this could also be a part of the 'possession' of the inheritance tome.
Swoosh!
But what happened next surprised him. "What!? Where is this place?"
What Shin saw was a dense forest filled with a healthy environment. Trees that were bearing fruit plants of different types, and a variety of vegetables were filling the entire place.
He could also see a variety of animals everywhere, whether they were tame or wild. Moreover, these animals were living in harmony despite their differences. Even the predators that were supposed to hunt these weaker animals slept soundly and let those little ones play with their ears and fluffy furs.
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Walking around, Shin found a variety of things. Aside from the ordinary and regular fruits and edible plants around, he also found some that he could not recognize. Even with all the knowledge that he had accumulated about these things, he could not find any of them in his memory.
Given his background during the Training Camp and the time he had spent in the library of the Springfield Family since young, he had never seen or read most of the strange fruits and plants that he had seen along the way.
Some of them were heavenly treasures found in various places around the world, but most could only be seen in the virtual and fantasy world just like the game he was playing, «Destiny's Fate» Online.
Aside from those, he also found some monstrous beasts along the way. But they did not have the wild and aggressive nature that he knew. Most of them were completely tamed, not showing any ferociousness at all.
There were also some strange creatures that he had never seen or read before.
Despite their differences, all these creatures and monsters lived in harmony and not fighting one another.
Not long after, he reached the edge of a cliff and saw a stunning sight that he had never seen before.
The sight in front of him was so beautiful. A bountiful forest, a tall mountain, and a healthy plain – all of these were together while a variety of animals ran around and played with one another.
The clear sky was also filled with different types of birds, both giant and small.
At this moment, there was a single word that struck Shin's head. "Is this what they call a paradise?"
Thinking that it might be an illusion that the inheritance tome had created while trying to take over his body, Shin quickly put his guard up while enhancing his senses.
What was stranger was he could not find 'Uno', who was 'living' inside his Sea of Consciousness.
If the inheritance tome was trying to invade his consciousnesses, then it should be facing the two of them instead of him alone.
Moreover, there was also the horrifying seed within him. Even if he had yet to see what its form looked like inside his consciousness, he could at least guess the warning that Uno was giving him every time they 'met'.
He watched everything for a while until he noticed that something changed.
The sky slowly turned dark, indicating the storm that was about to arrive.
The true inheritance tome was now inside his head.
Touching his forehead, Shin knew that it had something to do with his 'Gift of Devouring'. That Mentalism Gift had most likely acted on its own when he was inside that mind realm and devoured the essence of the inheritance tome.
"If that is the case, then it most likely is related to one of my innate attributes," he mumbled and felt quite excited.
He did not expect that he would be receiving such an unexpected benefit. He was originally planning to do a similar feat later to trick the Black Serpent Mafia, but it looked like he no longer needed to go through such a troublesome path.
With this stone tablet, he could do a few more things.
He wanted to check on what kind of inheritance it was or what change it gave him. But he knew that this was not the time for it since there were still a few things that he had to deal with.
Looking around and seeing the scene that the previous battle had left, Shin could only sigh. He did not care about the lives of the others, particularly the agents from the Black Serpent Mafia, but he could not help but feel a little guilty about the soldiers who got killed during the process.
Even if there were some conflicts between the Springfield Family and Green Family due to their rivalries, they were still not deep enough to cause each other to die like this.
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
While he was lost in thought, Shin suddenly heard a series of sounds coming from the distance. When he cast his gaze in that direction, he could already see a few people in military uniform heading his way.
"Come on! This is the location where that strange fluctuation is coming from! This must be the place where the young master has sent us."
"Hurry! Something must have happened for them to ask for reinforcements."
"Prepare to engage in battle! We may be greeted by something unexpected when we arrive!"
Hearing the shouts of the team leaders of the incoming units, Shin knew that it was now time to pull out. "It seems like their reinforcements are finally here."
At the same time, he also heard a voice coming from a distance. "That's quite a nice try to eliminate everyone and come out cleanly. As expected from someone who graduates as a 'Joker'. You sure are ruthless."
Turning his head toward the direction of the voice, Shin saw someone leaning on the nearby tree that he had never seen before.
But at the same time, he knew that this person belonged to the Black Serpent Mafia given the noticeable tattoo on their shoulder.
"I came here right after I noticed that the barrier and the strange powers surrounding the entire region disappeared. I guessed that someone had taken the inheritance too, so I rushed here to see what was going on."
"Who would have thought that everyone died or was in a critical condition aside from the person who is supposedly the one to die," said that person while staring at Shin.
Shin was not surprised by this person's appearance since he knew that the organization always had a contingency plan whenever they were doing special missions.
Regardless, he still looked at the other party with full caution while keeping the stone tablet inside his dimensional ring. Even if this person tried to steal that ring from him, they would not be able to get their hands on the tablet since the ring had a self-destruct feature.
This agent slightly raised his brows before chuckling. "Quite cautious, huh?"
"Don't worry, we have done enough research for it before coming to this place. We know that aside from the person who is recognized by the inheritance tome, no one can touch it-... that is unless you surrender it to use 'willingly'," he added with a ridiculing tone.
It was Shin's turn to raise his brows when he heard that. He now understood that these people had another purpose for keeping Bernard captive aside from being a hostage that would force Shin to work for them.
They wanted to force him to hand the inheritance tome to them once he succeeded in retrieving it.
Unfortunately for them, their assessment was slightly off the mark.
"Heh," he sneered at the agent before saying. "Let's go. We must get out of this place before those guys catch up to us."
The agent watched Shin leave without turning back before glancing at the agents lying on the ground and groaning in pain.
His eyes lingered on the young executioner for a couple of seconds before shaking his head. "What a pity."
After that, he snapped with his fingers, igniting the entire place with the flames produced by his Natural Force. He turned everything into ashes along with the soldiers and agents littered on the ground.
He only left when he made sure that everyone died before turning around and following Shin.
...