Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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'I wonder if there's a way for me to build something similar to an 'Intelligence Lowering Machine' or something.' Cedric grumbled on his bed.

His recent realizations made him feel sad and guilty, even though he wasn't the one responsible for it. Thinking that it was the Wise Dragons' innate ability that was causing the spike of intelligence amongst Void Creatures didn't feel good at all.

And if he felt this way, just imagine how devastating it would be for the Old Dragon Patriarch. Especially considering that the void harvested this ability from his dearest disciple.

Cedric hoped...wished that he was wrong. He hoped that he was just being too extreme and that this was just a product of his imaginative mind. Oh, how glad he would be to be proven wrong this time.

However, the hints and clues were so convincing that he had no other choice than to believe it.

Now, here comes the catch: should he inform the Chancellor about it?

It's a yes or no question; both had their pros and cons. Yet Cedric was torn. On one hand, the old patriarch has every right to know. On the other hand, he's afraid that if he told him, the old dragon might just lose it completely and might make it his life's mission to eliminate the Void Prince.

A personal vendetta doesn't sound too bad, except that now certainly isn't the time. They can't afford any recklessness because neither the guardians nor the realm itself is yet ready for a decisive war. There's still plenty to do, more things to improve on, and many preparations to make.

If the old dragon patriarch loses it and provokes the ire of the Void Prince too much, casualties will pile up, and they can't have that right now.

That's why Cedric decided to not do or say anything to him for now. He opted to wait, instead. Wait until their army was well prepared and strong enough. However, this choice also has a drawback because the longer this takes, the higher the possibility that the Void Prince will abuse this ability, and that's not good either.

It's because of this that Cedric wondered if there's a way to create a machine that could lower their opponents' intelligence. This was the only solution he could think of right now.

"Ugh! I really don't like this." Cedric sighed.

The possibility of creating such a machine, though, was very low. He doesn't even know where to begin. And so, without it, other than waiting, there's nothing else he could do. Which also meant that he could only watch as the void creatures developed. The speed of their development will depend on the Void Prince's motivation, something that's out of Cedric's control, and that's exactly what he doesn't like about this.

"Alright, you have to relax, Cedric," he told himself. "Sure, Void Prince having the ability to impart wisdom to his subjects was a bad thing, but the gap between intelligence and progress isn't something that could be breached overnight. That Blessing of Wisdom is great and all, but it's also reasonable. The Void surely won't know how to tweak it. It just copied the ability from the soul of Young Dragon Patriarch and then pasted it to the Void Prince."

"If that's the case, then the Void Prince shouldn't be able to use it often."

"Wisdom is a very powerful tool, yes. But so is time. Raw wisdom takes time to be polished, refined, and applied before it reaches its true potential. The blessing of wisdom only improves the target's capacity to accept raw wisdom. The refinement depends on them and on a few other factors, and each process takes a considerable amount of time."

"Yes, the Void has no concept of time, but that's both a good and a bad thing for them."

"For now, we could only focus on what we can do and hope that things go well. We just need more time."

**

Days turned into weeks, and weeks turned into months...

As more time passed since the previous invasion attempt, the lives of everybody within the camps returned to normalcy.

If there are any changes since then, it would be the more harmonious atmosphere within the camp.

It seems that the last invasion did change some things. The rebellious and lazy recruits who were still resisting their incorporation with Border Patrol Guardians turned over a new leaf after witnessing the disaster. Reasons vary from one person to the next, but the general gist was the same; they realized that they were serving a purpose way bigger than they were and contributing to it gave them a fulfilling sense of satisfaction, which changed their minds.

Of course not everybody was convinced. There are still a few unrepentant ones here and there, but they're manageable. At worst, they'll be forcing the issue, and they'll be executed for insubordination. It's not a huge loss to the guardians, but it's also not something that they'd do when there are other options available.

Because of the stellar performance of the upgraded weapons, more of them were made. There can never be too many of them at this point, given how many Void Creatures were roaming on the other side and how fast they reproduce.

His defenses are also being upgraded, the dams of void energy were being expanded, and there have been some upgrades on the Void Suits. The patch hasn't been made public, though, because there are still some calibrations to be made, but it won't be long now.

As for the Ancient Chaos Alpha project, everything was going well. Just last week, ten more people found the spark and have already made their transitions. As usual, Cedric taught them his ways, and they were sent to their respective positions and camps.

Now, there are only a handful of people left from the first batch. And judging by their progress, it wouldn't be long before they too catch the spark and make their transition.

Because of this, Cedric finally greenlit the proposal to invite more people to the project.

This time, though, he was informed that besides the desperate ones, they would also start to introduce other interested parties as well; people that aren't really desperate for progress but are deeply interested in exploring the unknown. Each candidate was still within the Transitional Realm; there were still no Cosmic Level experts because Cedric isn't ready yet.

Cedric was fine with this. Since the goal was to canonize this path eventually, he knew that this moment would come, so he wasn't so hesitant about it.

Doing background checks and sending out the invitations will take some time, so for now, Cedric didn't concern himself too much about it.

Instead, he finally dedicated some time to deciphering the future of the Ancient Chaos Path. More precisely, what comes after the Void Refinement Realm?

Assuming that the Void Refinement Realm was limited to the 9th Stage, which expands one's Inner World to 999,999,999 miles in diameter, what comes next?

Should the focus remain on elevating the existence of the Inner World? Should it overlap with reality? Should it become a real one instead?

Should the focus be on the concept laws instead? How about returning to one's true origins? Mastering one's existence? Pursuing the truth about life evolution?

There are too many possibilities, too many things to consider.

Cedric could draw inspiration from the orthodox path, but the concept was too simple and crude. Cosmic Level experts, including Cosmic Lords, are called as such because their might is equivalent to that of an entire Cosmic Realm.

Mind you, there are a ton of Cosmic Realms within the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm, and more will be born as worlds follow their natural evolution path.

That said, this was also the known limit to this path. To most people, possessing the power to dictate the life and death of an entire cosmic realm was already the pinnacle.

Now, Cedric wouldn't dare say that the Ancient Chaos Path has no such limitations. But he's confident enough to say that the cap was definitely way higher than the Cosmic Lord Realm.

Alas, Cedric had to search blindly while moving forward. That's why he's already probing the path forward as early as now to minimize his mistakes later.

Besides, he'd probably need some concrete information soon. After all, he couldn't possibly hold back others, forcing them to wait for him to lead the way. If they want to explore this path with him, how could he possibly stop or delay them? The best he could offer, of course, was a few clues or hints he found along the way.

However, Cedric also understands that this was going to take some time. Cedric himself wasn't in a hurry; after all, he had just recently stepped into the 6th Stage of Void Refinement. Others, though, especially those who are already at the 9th stage, are under more pressure. While some aren't in a real hurry, others are starting to feel anxious because there was no way forward.

That's why they could only do their research along with Cedric giving them a few hints here and there. What happens afterwards will ultimately depend on them.