Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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The rankings in the virtual arena were divided according to the Life Evolution Realms, with the Immortal Level being at the peak. Each realm has subdivisions of Bronze, Silver, and Gold.

Cedric's ranking after his placement matches, which is Grand Solar (Gold), was the peak of this rank. For his promotion to Cosmic (Bronze) rank, he needs to win five consecutive matches against people of that same rank as he is; they could be stronger but definitely not weaker, or else it wouldn't count.

On the other hand, if he is defeated three times in a row during his promotion matches, he will be demoted to Grand Solar (Silver) rank, and that's another problem on its own.

Although it's a little weird for an Immortal Level evolver like him to be participating in matches with Grand Solar challengers, this situation wasn't really all that rare in the arena.

It tends to happen from time to time; there will always be people who will come to the virtual arena for the first time in their entire lives, intrigued by something in here or for just pure fun.

It's not against the rules, anyway.

Cedric also knew that he's probably not going to stay in this rank for long. He was, after all, a little too strong to be in this bracket. Nevertheless, he planned on taking advantage of it as much as he could.

A 1v1 wasn't his only option, by the way.

The Virtual Arena offers more than just 1v1 matches. There are duos or team battles too. There are even some special combat events open from time to time.

Cedric hasn't looked at those yet, and quite frankly, he's not that interested. But maybe in the future, he will.

Besides fame, experience, and a few rare resources, the virtual arena doesn't offer anything else worth noting. It was made for entertainment in the first place, and the creators stuck to that concept until now. It's not because they're being stingy; that's just the way it is. If anybody came to the virtual universe with the goal to earn bangles and resources, the arena wouldn't be their first choice.

For income, the places to go for were the Mercenary Union, which offers rewards for each mission cleared, and the Department of Trade, sponsored majorly by the Golden Bangle Bank, where they could either sell or buy stuff. And the most popular is the Heroic Stairway, where challengers can attempt to ascend; each floor they clear will give them hefty amounts of resources and bangles. The higher they climb, the more resources they can receive.

There's also the gambling dens and other areas that offered monetary compensation.

Aside from these, the Virtual Universe was mostly for socializing. It was created with the intent of bringing people together regardless of the distance. The other stuff one sees and experiences here were just bonuses.

So, Cedric really didn't feel any burden taking his time exploring everything in here. It's not like he's running out of time.

**

Returning to reality after his placement matches, Cedric relaxed for a bit.

He then received several alerts, notifying him of the e-mails he got recently. He opened them and saw that most of them came from the Virtual Arena, congratulating him on his placement rank and encouraging him to climb the ranking ladder higher.

There are also a few new e-mails from the Golden Bangle Bank. He already opened most of them before, and they actually constitute the majority of his inbox right now.

But the new ones contained surprising news that got his attention.

He was invited to a virtual auction.

As one of the Scarlet VIPs, he's got priority in things like this. For anything that has something to do with the bank, earning and spending money, or news that might pique his interest, the bank will notify him.

In a sense, this also serves as an intelligence report from the bank, disguised as mundane e-mails, and it's just one of his privileges as an important customer of the bank.

As for the Virtual Auction...

Cedric received an initial catalogue for the items that will show up in there. Of course, the final pieces were kept private until the auction itself, but this was enough for Cedric to determine whether he'd attend the auction or not.

Browsing the catalogue for a moment, Cedric sighed since they weren't really that interesting to him.

It's mostly because the things being sold in the auction were things he already owns. He even has better versions of them.

Again, Architect Columbus left him too much. He practically inherited the treasures and history of the Divine Bloods—who were once the most dominant race in the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm. Cedric doesn't even know how the architect managed to get all of this into the bank, and until now, he's still not done tallying everything in there.

It's no joke that Cedric could probably sustain an entire cosmic realm or two for many years with the amount of riches he had. He will literally never run into a financial problem again.

That's why this auction didn't pique his interest at all. Even if the final item turned out to be surprising, that'll be all there is to it. Cedric wouldn't even be surprised if he happens to have whatever that is already somewhere in the ocean of treasures the architect left for him.

But aside from the list of items, with the exception of the unknown final pieces, Cedric also received a list of people who had confirmed their attendance for this auction.

There were a lot. Some were individuals he had never heard of, some were a little famous, most came from organizations, some more famous than others.

Cedric found this a little weird. Because even to him, a newbie in the Primitive Universe, the resources offered in this auction weren't really all that impressive. This isn't just because he was filthy rich; it's just that the items aren't really all that interesting.

Therefore, he found it strange why the representatives of these giants would appear here.

Then he remembered...

'Ah, right! The Heavenly Star's Millennial Tournament! '

With this, it finally made sense why they're appearing here. As it turns out, it was a scramble for resources.

Because of this upcoming event, the prices and rarity of resources were rising sharply. Even the common resources most of the time were becoming rarely seen these days because the big guys were hoarding.

The Heavenly Star's Millennial Tournament was a really big deal. It's an event that called out to all geniuses of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm, one that only happens once every 1000 years.

Participating in itself will already lead to numerous opportunities. And if they could successfully display their skills and attain a decent ranking, they might even receive a life-changing chance.

Contend? Of course! Contend all the way! Fight for it! This is not the time to hesitate or to bow down your head! To most, this was a once-in-a-lifetime event; how can they not contend?

And it's not just limited to the participants either; this also extends to the people behind them.

Families, clans, sects, organizations...whatever they were, this tournament was their chance to become more famous and secure more resources, especially since the strongest people of this chaos realm will pay attention to this event.

That's why everybody was scrambling at the last minute to increase their strength as much as possible before the event began. Some might even risk their foundations, thinking that the sacrifice would be worth it so long as they gain a foothold during the tournament.

'The tournament's a year away,' Cedric mused to himself.

He'd be lying if he said that he wasn't interested. It was a huge event, after all. And there was no better time to make an appearance than that. Furthermore, he's qualified to compete with the really strong folks of the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm since he's immortal himself.

This tournament will allow evolvers from the Grand Solar level to the Immortal level to participate, and with how huge it was, it's bound to attract the attention of all the hidden geniuses within this chaos realm.

The idea of competing against locals who were groomed by ancient families and sects lit up Cedric's competitive spirit. If he could make connections with them, that would be even better.

That said, it's not just humans who would be paying attention to this event.

The Demon Beasts and the Horde will also do. And since the tournament will be so high-profile, everybody who participates is essentially allowing others to paint a target on their backs.

Had this been the old times, Cedric wouldn't have dared to come out at all. But it's different here in the Primitive Universe.

The humans here are strong and respected. Cedric doesn't have to shoulder every burden here. He could just be who he is.

There are strong men and women who are already propping up the sky for geniuses like him. For geniuses who have yet to grow up like him, displaying their talents was a way of responding to the sacrifice and efforts of those big guys.

A message that their efforts hadn't been wasted. That humanity's future was and will always remain illustrious.