Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

--

As Cedric watched the battle, it was made obvious to him how different the fighting style here was.

The combat style of humans in the Heavenly Star Chaos realm was complicated. It's just about wielding weapons and funneling gross amounts of energy into them to eradicate their enemies. He could see finesse and thought even in the most 'barbaric' combat style he's been witnessing so far.

More importantly, despite the varying styles he had seen so far, he could sense a 'human' touch to them. Every single one of the combat styles he saw was tailored with humans in mind. If other races tried to copy or mimic these styles, they'd find it awkward since it's just not made for them.

Through his mystic eyes, Cedric could see how these combatants were mobilizing their energies and bodies to exert the force necessary to display their combat techniques. Mastery over these techniques varies from one person to the next, obviously.

Cedric kept watching and learning. Even though the people he's watching were weaker than him, he wasn't so arrogant as to slight their presence. Despite their weakness, they're more familiar with this world than he is, so there are still things that he could learn from them.

This was how Cedric spent his next following days.

If he wasn't reading the books he inherited from the architect, he was in the virtual world, watching fights and absorbing all the knowledge that he could.

He noticed that his bodyguards had been switched to another team of five. They all looked the same, but they can't fool his senses. However, he doesn't care much. So long as they're not harming him or disturbing his activities, he'd ignore them. They must be following their own rules anyway, and Cedric wasn't really all that interested in knowing them that well.

Back to his activities...

After weeks of doing nothing but these few activities, Cedric thought that he had learned everything he could about the common fighting styles of the combatants he frequently saw in the arena.

This urged him to move on and watch the battles of stronger people so that he could learn from them next.

From watching Grand Solar level matches, he moved on to the Cosmic Level league. And as he expected, the intensity was different.

Experts of the Cosmic Level wielded concept laws like they were extensions of their bodies. Their familiarity with it surprised him greatly, even though their attainments were lower than theirs.

Most of them haven't even reached the Great Law stage, yet their clever use of concept laws was frankly impressive in his eyes.

The inspiration he got from watching these fights was richer compared to the lower-ranked battles he watched before. He even found himself contemplating often and trying out if he could replicate what he saw.

This went on for another month before Cedric made a decision.

It's about time he makes an appearance at least. So, he decided to participate in some battles himself. Learning on his own could only take him so far, after all. Experience is the best teacher.

**

"Hi, I'd like to register for the arena," Cedric said to the staff.

"Awesome! How would you like me to address you, sir? You can use a codename, by the way."

"Dawnbringer. Call me Dawnbringer."

"Nice to meet you, Dawnbringer, Sir. Please take this badge with you in the real world and refine it. There is a set of instructions left you can follow to complete your registration. Once your registration is complete, you'll receive a confirmation letter, and you can start participating in your placement matches."

"Thanks." Cedric took the badge and retreated from the line.

After stepping out, he went to his personal dimension with the badge on hand and did the necessary steps to take it with him to the real world.

For common people, they usually need to pay a fee to take out special items like this badge with them to reality. The fee varies depending on the rarity of the item, obviously, but for the arena badge, it's quite cheap; just 20 common bangles were needed.

The caveat is that it could take some time. There are many people queueing to have their items be taken out with them; this process requires a chain of permission that needs to be confirmed with the system of the people managing the virtual world, and there are also priorities.

It's not uncommon for this mundane process to take business days or weeks, and this was for the Arena Badge; there are varying time frames for every item, and it largely depends on its rarity.

Cedric was spared of this inconvenience due to his status as a Scarlet VIP. For customers like him, the Golden Bangle Bank has a private server that handles their stuff, and for him specifically, this process was not only free but also instant.

As soon as he sent the request, it only took 30 seconds for him to get a response, and he's already back to reality with the arena badge at hand.

Cedric didn't waste time. He began refining the badge, which also didn't take long either. And soon, he was reading the rules and regulations of the virtual arena.

He completed the registration and soon received a confirmation. Once he got this, Cedric could now begin his placement matches.

The arena wasn't fussy about his identity. It could even be said that it frankly doesn't care at all.

As always, he set his codename to be 'Dawnbringer,' since it's essentially tied to his identity now.

Since it's not allowed for anybody to change their appearance too much in the virtual world, Cedric chose to wear a Mask of Anonimity instead. This mask prevents people from seeing his face and things he doesn't want them to see. It's a virtual artifact that's a little pricey but one that Cedric didn't hesitate to buy.

Aside from the mask, Cedric wore white and gold robes and pants; he had black boots, and a sword case was hanging by his waist.

Satisfied with his appearance, Cedric began his placement matches.

Actually, if Cedric announced that he's already an Immortal, he could skip the placement matches and directly enter the Immortal Level bracket. But Cedric didn't do so. He wanted the full experience, so he participated in the 'tutorial' as well.

The placement matches will have him fight 10 people, each one stronger than the next. The results will determine his bracket, and it doesn't observe how many matches he won; it will be based on his skills and performance.

Cedric could downplay his actual skill level here, essentially cheating the system. He wasn't the first one who did this and wouldn't be the last either. It's not like the system doesn't notice this; it just doesn't care and will only interfere once it becomes excessive.

His first placement match was a win. It's against a noob AI, which he blew up with a point of his finger. The next one was the same, and the third one as well.

The fourth one was a real person. He knew that when the other party performed a unique gesture of respect and when he saw the intelligent gleam in his eyes.

Cedric himself returned the gesture in his own way and drew a sword. The fight began after that, and from the very first clash of their weapons, Cedric already had an accurate gauge of his opponent's strength.

'Mid Grand Solar Realm? Already? 'He thought to himself.

He initially thought that he'd start with an opponent at the planetary level first, but the system threw a Grand Solar Warrior to him right away. It's probably because he got rid of the AI bots too quickly.

Cedric wasn't in a hurry. He sparred earnestly with his opponent, lowering his strength exertion to his level so the both of them could have fun in this match.

However, despite Cedric limiting his strength, his opponent could barely keep up with him. The gap in experience was the insurmountable wall that the other party wouldn't be able to cross for now. So, Cedric's victory was certain.

With a swipe of his sword and an unprepared and panicked opponent, the match ended. Cedric won.

He saw a trace of helplessness and disappointment on the other party's face, but it then changed into acceptance. They bowed to each other in courtesy before the other party disappeared.

Cedric didn't linger that long; he moved on to his 5th placement match, and once again, he's fighting another person.

Just like this, Cedric tackled his placement matches one at a time. He didn't rush. He savored each match and adjusted his strength to match his opponents to make this more enjoyable for himself.

Even though these battles took place in the virtual world, it doesn't really feel different from what he does in reality; the only major difference is that he won't actually die here if he suffersa lethal injury.

Cedric won all of his placement matches in a row. His opponents weren't all that difficult; everybody was weaker than him.

About an hour after he settled his placement matches, his initial rank was determined.

'Grand Solar (Gold).'