Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

--

"Okay, I think I understand enough now," Cedric muttered to himself.

The system AI already gave him a crash course about everything he needed to know here since the tokens that Big Han gave him only provided an introduction.

First and foremost, time works differently here. It doesn't matter how long he stayed here; a day, weeks, months, years, decades, or even centuries will pass in his world. That said, his stay here isn't permanent. There are stipulations on how much time he has, and the system informed him that it depends on a few criteria.

His true body was still in his world; only his soul was here, but it had been given a physical form due to some form of divine ability.

Most importantly, all of his gains here will be reflected in his true body. Meaning that whatever level of strength he gained here will return with him once he leaves. This also applies to all skills, techniques, knowledge, and so on, unless there is a special condition that prevents him from having them.

As for the knowledge about the trials...

Those who qualified for the Tower of Prodigies are called 'Challengers'. The tower is open to everybody except the Six Leading Races of the Divine Council.

The place he arrived at after registering his identity was called 'The Lobby'; it's the reception area that looked a lot like the penthouses available at his home. According to what he learned, the fact that it seemed so familiar to him was just a coincidence. He shouldn't put too much thought into it.

Since there are a lot of living things of all shapes and sizes, it's obvious that the number of prodigies wouldn't be small. There are multiple lobbies available, and each one only has room for 10 challengers.

The challengers are free to socialize to build their social network or even establish competition amongst themselves. The caveat is that they can't kill each other. Each lobbie is considered a non-agression zone, and those who violate this rule will not only be eliminated but will also receive harsh punishment directly from the Divine Council.

A minor offense will result in immediate death, while a major offense means the enslavement of that challenger and their entire race for at least 10,000 years.

It was harsh, cruel, and immoral, but out here, the one with the bigger fist has more authority. Violating the rules established by the Divine Council was worse than courting death.

There are three trials that challengers must face here: the trials of body, mind, and spirit. Each trial has a maximum of 10 stages and has varying levels of difficulty set at Easy, Medium, Hard, and Dynamic.

The first three difficulty settings are only an option for those who refuse to register their racial identity. Since Cedric registered his, the trial difficulty was automatically set to Dynamic Difficulty for him, and there's no changing this.

Whether this was the right decision or not, only time will tell. The system might be generous enough to answer most of his questions, but it wouldn't tell him everything. Only those that he needs to know as a challenger.

These were generally the things he needed to know for now. His real goal was to see how far he could go.

Aside from this, Cedric also inquired about general knowledge about the council and such. He's mostly curious about how this society works and so on.

Since his world was suppressed by space pirates (the Demon Race), his perspective was way different from the norm.

According to what he learned, the normal life of a person whose world was under the jurisdiction of the Divine Council was centered around life evolution, which is done by breaking their inborn mortal shackles and chasing after transcendence.

The power scale that the Divine Council established was way different than what he knows, which is normal since it hasn't even been a week since he learned about their existence.

They use the Heavenly Bodies as the strength scale, staring at the [planetary level] that mortals are at. Each level is divided into the 'Warrior Realm', which is roughly equivalent to humanity's Superhuman Realm. After that comes the 'Grandmaster Realm', then the 'Sage Realm', which respectively corresponds to the Planar Traveler and Star Traveler Realms.

Planetary Warrior, Planetary Grandmaster, and Planetary Sage. Each stage is measured with 1–5 stars, with 1 being the lowest and 5 at the peak, just before transitioning to the next level.

On Prime Earth, Star Traveler was the pinnacle. Out here? That barely qualifies as 'strong'. It's nowhere near the peak. Sage Realm experts are ants compared to the real experts of the alliance.

After the planetary level comes the grand solar level. Again, this level is divided into Warrior, Grandmaster, and Sage stages with 1–5 star sub-levels.

Next is the cosmic level; this was the limit of knowledge that Cedric had access to, though. The system hinted that things are different once one reaches the cosmic-level lifeform, but right now, this matter is too far from him, so even if he knows it, it's useless. He's better off focusing on the trials instead.

Still, this broadened Cedric's horizons even further. It's truly astonishing and lamentable just how huge the gap was between civilizations.

"System, show me my profile."

[As you wish...]

**

[Challenger Profile:]

Name: Dawnbringer

Age: 23

Race: Human

LE: 1-star Planetary Grandmaster Lifeform

Potential: A+

Achievements: None.

Points: 0

**

Cedric smiled wryly. His Challenger Profile was essentially a blank slate, which was understandable since he just came here.

The 'LE' stands for Liform Evolution, and based on the details on his profile, his strength was measured to be at the 1-star Planetary Grandmaster Realm.

Cedric knew that he couldn't hide anything from the tower's scanner. He also didn't doubt its accuracy. The standards of strength within the Divine Council's territory were, of course, way different from those on Prime Earth. They have no lack of resources and freedom; of course, their people are born with higher potential than humans.

The 'Potential' section on his Challenger Profile is similarly measured using letter grades; from lowest to highest, they are: D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and EX.

An 'A grade' potential is the minimum level required to qualify for the Tower of Prodigies.

Cedric was humbled by this. Acala declared that his potential was EX, but here, it's merely an A+ grade, and this was with his complete fusion with the godking's eyes too.

He's only 'qualified' enough for this. He's neither a genius nor the Son of Heaven. He's just a slightly lucky dude, like he's always been. What a truly humbling experience!

The 'Achievement' section represents the things he has done so far in the trials. Considering that he has yet to do anything, it's obvious that there would be nothing there.

As for the points, it's the only currency that's accepted here. Challengers gain points by performing well on the trials. The number of points they receive isn't static. The only hint he got from the system is that it's based on his performance.

Challengers could use points to exchange for resources or trade with other challengers. Cedric had already skimmed through the very long list of resources he could buy using points. To say that there's a lot would be an understatement. He could refine his search by using filters; he could even directly tell the system about his requirements and refine it even more.

It's too much for him right now, not to mention that he doesn't even have a single point to his name, so he didn't look any further.

Since he already learned everything he needed to know for now, he should really start preparing for trials.

With that in mind, Cedric went out of the house and flew away. He picked a spot that's far enough from the house to train. He summoned his sword, the Solaris Edge, which responded to his call, and also his armor.

Cedric closed his eyes to adjust his mental state before unleashing everything. The system told him that this place can recover very fast, which means he didn't need to hold back at all, so he didn't, and it felt amazing.

On Prime Earth, Cedric felt restricted. He moves while constantly looking over his shoulders. He had to be on constant guard since he could afford to expose himself early on, or else his con would be discovered and all of his preparations would be useless. He had to keep a low profile and never unleash all of his strength to keep himself safe.

Here, there was absolutely no need for that. He didn't need to pretend, he didn't need to scheme, and most importantly, he didn't need to hold back. This world can take it. It can take him without any consequences, and it feels good to just unleash himself completely.

As Cedric waved his sword, accompanied by billowing flames of gold and lights with the faint luster of the stars and the twists and turns of space, every single cell on his body thrummed in excitement and glee. He couldn't help but think:

"So this is what freedom is like..."