Child of Destiny

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The small episode with the group of idiots blocking Shin’s path ended almost as quickly as it had begun.

After seeing the group freeze in fear upon recognizing him, Shin simply ignored them and continued on his way.

Of course, he had already taken note of their respective guilds.

He sent the information to Delusive Smile afterward, Shiella’s personal assistant within the game.

What they decided to do with those guilds afterward was none of his concern.

They could eradicate them, issue a warning, or even turn the incident into an opportunity to gain something from them.

Whatever they chose was up to them.

Shin had no intention of involving himself in such trivial matters.

He simply returned to the Teleportation Hall and selected his next destination.

The Golden City—this was the heart of his dukedom, Gold Mountain.

Swoosh!

The familiar sensation of teleportation passed through his body.

When Shin opened his eyes again, he was immediately greeted by a lively atmosphere.

He couldn’t help but raise his brows. The Teleportation Hall of Golden City was far more developed than he remembered.

In terms of scale alone, it was already comparable to the one in the Holy City, which was a Royal Rank City.

The enormous hall was divided into several massive chambers, each dedicated to different destinations connected to Gold Golden City.

At the center stood the main teleportation circle, which connected to cities that did not possess a direct teleportation route to Gold Mountain.

Flashes of light constantly erupted from the formation as players arrived and departed in an endless stream.

The sheer volume of traffic surprised Shin.

’It seems Golden City has developed quite a lot as well.’ He thought as he observed the players flowing through the hall for a moment before finally making his way toward the exit.

The moment he stepped outside, another bustling scene unfolded before him.

Players filled the streets in every direction.

Magic carriages moved along the roads while merchants and adventurers crowded the surrounding establishments. The atmosphere was every bit as lively as the Holy City.

Shin couldn’t help but smile beneath his mask. "Tsk! Tsk! Not bad~!"

From what Shin knew, the Golden City had already reached Capital Rank, placing it one stage below a Royal Rank City.

However, when it came to the sophistication of its facilities, the Golden City was not necessarily inferior to the Holy City.

Back when the city was still being constructed, Shin had provided Shiella with numerous Master-rank blueprints. With the continuous development of the territory, many of the facilities they had built back then should have already undergone several rounds of promotion.

Sure enough, even from the entrance of the teleportation hall, Shin could already spot several Seven-Star Inns and Restaurants, all of them bustling with customers.

The various merchant shops and blacksmith establishments were no different. Players constantly came and went through their doors, while the sounds of merchants calling out their wares and blacksmiths working their forges filled the surrounding streets.

Yet, despite the prosperity of the city itself, those were not what attracted Shin’s attention the most.

The true attraction of the Golden City was the scenery beyond its walls.

Unlike most cities in the game, the Golden City had been built atop a massive mountain.

Its elevated position not only gave it a natural defensive advantage, making the city far easier to defend against potential invasions, but also transformed it into an exceptional tourist destination.

The central plaza was located at the highest point of the city, with the Teleportation Hall occupying one of its most prominent positions.

As soon as players stepped out of the hall, they were immediately greeted by a breathtaking panorama.

To the left stretched an endless blue horizon.

The sea extended as far as the eye could see, leading toward numerous aquatic maps scattered throughout the surrounding region.

To the right was an entirely different sight.

The distant Frozen Kingdom stretched across the horizon, its territory covered by towering snowy peaks, endless frozen forests, and vast fields of snow.

From time to time, players could even spot the silhouettes of Ice Wyverns and Glacial Eagles soaring through the distant skies.

The enormous beasts would occasionally circle above the snowy mountains before disappearing toward their respective nests.

Shin quietly took in the scenery.

Even after all this time, the Golden City had truly become something else.

After walking down the stairs, Shin circled around the teleportation hall, heading toward his next destination.

Behind the hall stood another major attraction of the Golden City.

The Battle Arena.

In a sense, a player-built battle arena could never truly compare to the Divine Colosseum found in the major NPC cities. The difference was even more apparent when compared to the ordinary battle arenas constructed by players in their towns and cities.

However, the Battle Arena of the Golden City was an exception. It was already well known among the game’s elite players.

Not only did it possess far more advanced training facilities than ordinary battle arenas, but the entire area was also saturated with mana and various forms of elemental energy.

This created an exceptionally favorable environment for training, particularly for the elite among the game’s apex veteran players.

The reason was the Elemental Mana Towers that Shin had provided during the city’s construction.

Its effects had only become more pronounced as the Golden City developed, continuously enhancing the mana environment throughout the surrounding area.

The Battle Arenas did have one notable disadvantage compared to the Divine Colosseum.

It did not possess an extensive online battle network.

Unlike the Divine Colosseums, which could connect players across different cities and allow them to search for suitable opponents, all the Battle Arenas functioned primarily as a local battlefield.

Players could only challenge opponents who were physically present within the arena.

Normally, that would have been a significant limitation.

For the Golden City, however, it was hardly a problem.

After all, the city was surrounded by multiple high-level hunting maps.

The players who traveled here were already considerably stronger than the average player, with many of them being elite experts seeking opportunities in the higher-level regions of the Aurora Continent.

More importantly, the Golden City remained the only city with direct access to the Frozen Kingdom, one of the highest-level neutral regions currently accessible within the Aurora Continent.

Any mainstream player who wanted to venture into that region had to pass through the Golden City first.

Because of this, the city had gradually become a natural gathering point for powerful players.

It was no longer simply a prosperous player city.

It had become a hub for experts. Even Titled Rankers and Maverick Rankers could occasionally be seen within the city.

It was precisely for these reasons that the Gold Mountain Territory had become highly coveted by numerous organizations and top guilds.

Unfortunately, the territory was also home to several forces that no one in their right mind would want to provoke.

Forget about the multiple Righteous Churches that had established branches within the territory, drawn there by the influence of their respective representatives.

There was Shin, the Battle God himself and the Envoy of the Church of the Sun and Moon.

Cloe—better known to players as Gentle Goddess Arielle—the Holy Maiden of the Church of Light.

And Leonard, or the War God Simba inside the game, the Champion of the Temple of the War God.

The presence of these powerful churches alone made the Gold Mountain Territory difficult to challenge.

But they were far from being its only deterrent.

The player forces stationed within the Golden City were more than enough to make most organizations reconsider any hostile intentions.

At the head of the territory stood the Hand of Midas, the undisputed hegemon among trading firms and lifestyle guilds.

Beside them was the Empyrean Talons, an adventurer team composed of some of the most terrifying monsters in the game.

And after their recent victory in the United Cup, the Empyrean Talons were now recognized as the number-one Adventurer Team in the game.

There was also Deicide.

Unlike the other organizations operating openly within the territory, Deicide was an extremely secretive elite guild established personally by Shin and Shiella.

Most of its members were drawn from the cadets of the Springfield Family, making it a force composed almost entirely of highly trained elites.

Its existence was deliberately kept out of the public eye.

Even among the organizations that maintained close relations with the Gold Mountain Territory, very few knew the true strength or composition of Deicide.

To outsiders, it was merely another mysterious guild. In reality, it was one of the hidden blades they prepared for their enemies.

Their allies were no less frightening.

There was the Assassin Union, the most powerful organization in the world when it came to assassination.

There were also famous adventurer teams such as God’s Paradise, the Secret Society, and the Eternal Hope.

And then there were the Slayers, led by the infamous God Slayer Lawless and Death God Faker.

Numerous renowned mercenary companies, including the Brotherhood and the Black Hounds, had also established close ties with the territory.

All of these forces gathered around the Gold Mountain Territory formed an alliance that very few organizations would dare challenge.

Even the most powerful guilds would have to think twice before making an enemy of them.

After all, attacking the Gold Mountain Territory meant confronting not just one guild—but an entire collection of the game’s most powerful forces.

...

Not long after, Shin finally arrived at his destination.

He stood before the most majestic and luxurious building in the entire Golden City.

The Headquarters of the Hand of Midas.

Ever since they had established the Gold Mountain, Shiella had gradually directed a large portion of the guild’s forces toward this place.

Unlike ordinary guild headquarters, however, the building was less like a traditional adventurer’s base and more like a massive commercial complex.

The enormous structure occupied a considerable portion of the city, with several interconnected buildings surrounding a central tower. Its exterior was decorated with intricate golden patterns and numerous magical formations, giving it an unmistakable sense of wealth and prestige.

However, what caught Shin’s attention wasn’t its appearance. It was the sheer amount of activity surrounding it.

Players were constantly entering and leaving the headquarters.

Some carried large storage bags filled with materials harvested from the surrounding hunting grounds, which could not fit within their respective inventory bags. Others even pushed carts loaded with ores, monster materials, herbs, and other rare resources.

A few were even accompanied by NPC merchants and craftsmen who were discussing prices and negotiating contracts as they walked.

It was also home to some of the most talented players in the various production professions.

Blacksmiths, alchemists, enchanters, tailors, chefs, architects, and countless other production-class players gathered here, each working on their own projects while contributing to the guild’s enormous commercial network.

The headquarters therefore functioned as far more than a place for guild members to gather.

It was a workshop, marketplace, warehouse, trading center, and administrative hub all at once.

Rare materials constantly flowed into the building from the surrounding hunting maps before being sorted and distributed to the appropriate departments.

Finished equipment and consumables, meanwhile, were transported out of the headquarters and sent toward different cities and territories throughout the game.

Even the surrounding streets had effectively become an extension of the guild’s business.

Merchants negotiated with guild representatives, players exchanged materials, and production-class experts hurried between different workshops.

And occasionally, Shin could even see several high-level players waiting patiently outside, hoping to meet one of the Hand of Midas’s renowned craftsmen to commission equipment from them.

The scene made Shin pause for a moment. ’So this is what the Hand of Midas looks... It is extremely busy.’

He couldn’t help but smile beneath his mask.

He had known that Shiella had been developing the guild aggressively, but seeing the result with his own eyes was still different.

The Hand of Midas was no longer simply a guild that happened to possess many talented craftsmen.

It had become a massive production and trading empire.

And with the Gold Mountain serving as its primary base, the guild had everything it needed to continue expanding.

Abundant resources from the surrounding hunting grounds, a port connecting them to the sea, a city filled with powerful players, and a territory strategically positioned beside the Frozen Kingdom.

Shin shook his head lightly. ’Big Sister really has turned this place into her kingdom. No wonder she is always busy.’

With that thought, he stepped toward the entrance of the headquarters.

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