Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking-Chapter 600: Greeting the Guests

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"Where are Mom and the aunts, by the way?"

The father and sons, done with their short bonding session, now sat in front of a table, sharing a scrumptious feast.

Cedric blinked at Godwyn and asked, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

"Ugh!"

"Damn it, Dad!"

"Gross."

Godwyn, Gilderoy, and Gerald reacted in that order.

"Ask some less obvious questions next time, then." Cedric looked completely unbothered by their reaction.

Shrugging off the topic completely, because the brothers truly didn't want to hear more about it, they started talking about their usual business just to inform Cedric about how they were doing outside of their cultivation.

By the time they finished their conversation, they were also done with their meal. At this point, Cedric made it a point to greet their guest since he had ignored them long enough.

First were Gerald's friends...

"H-hello, sir! Nice to meet you! My name is Orstead, a humble descendant of the Holy Spirits."

"My name is Cassandra, a Siren. Nice to meet you, sir."

"I'm Warrod, an Earth Gnome, sir."

"And I'm Lorelei, a merfolk, sir."

Cedric smiled as he inspected them briefly. These people weren't bad. Fairly strong considering their backgrounds but not really phenomenal, with the exception of Gerald, of course.

Had any of them harbored any ill intents, Cedric would immediately know. After all, they can't hide anything from his gaze. Fortunately, they're genuine people. They truly see his son as their dearest friend regardless of his background, which also proves that Gerald was a good judge of people and their personalities. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stayed with these people.

"Don't be too distant; just call me Uncle." He told them, "Also, thank you for treating my son well all these years."

"It's what we should do, Sir — I mean, Uncle," Orstead, the de facto leader of this team and their sturdiest moral compass, replied.

Cedric then looked at Gerald and said, "You can take them to the observatory, but you're responsible for them, understand?"

Gerald's eyes brightened before nodding eagerly, "Understood, thank you, Dad."

Without wasting any more time, he took his friends away with them not fully understanding why he was in such a hurry.

"We haven't even excused ourselves properly," Orstead grumbled before looking at Gerald. "Why are you in a hurry anyway?"

"Yeah, what's this observatory all about?" Cassandra, the siren, asked curiously as well.

"It's a good place," Gerald stated. "I'll explain more once we're there."

Gerald expertly made his way through the castle, which makes sense since this was his home. Eventually, they entered through a door, and the scene on the other side went completely out of their expectations.

Somehow, they found themselves walking in the vacuum of space. The scene was so similar to whenever they traveled on a spaceship, just without it. But more importantly, there's a presence here of something...primal. ƒreewebɳovel.com

It feels old, ancient, even. It's as if it has existed for far longer than any of them can imagine. The presence felt heavy, yet somehow it's also familiar.

"W-what is this place?" Warrod, the Earth Gnome, was dazzled as he asked this.

"This is the Observatory," Gerald explained. "It's a place where we observe concept laws in their natural habitat to enrich our own understanding of them."

Lorelei blandly looked at Gerald and asked, "You're kidding, right? I mean, I know your father's super awesome and all, but excuse me for not easily believing that he could somehow build a room where you can just casually observe concept laws without any consequences."

"Why not?" It was Orstead who reacted instead of Gerald. "I mean, you've seen him making a complete and habitable dimension in mere seconds, right? Hell, he even threw a sun at his children. Him being capable of making something like this isn't too far-fetched if you truly considered those."

"...oh, yeah! That makes sense." Lorelei looked convinced now after being reminded of that, saving Gerald the effort of explaining.

"Just a reminder, though..." Gerald warned, "It's certain that at some point, you will increasingly become confused the longer you meditate here."

"This room was created to serve as an aid and a test for us." He added, "While it helps us observe concept laws more closely and see them in their rawest form, we can only comprehend so much at a given time. We can't stay here indefinitely because if we do, we risk falling into madness because of how chaotic concept laws are at their base."

"To exert the full benefits of being in this room, aside from comprehending laws, you must also resist the madness-inducing effects of it, which will hone your willpower as well."

"If it comes to a point that you can no longer resist, don't worry, I'll send you out of here."

"Oh wow!" His friends now fully understood why Gerald was excited earlier. It turns out that this truly was a good place.

This was even better than them going all over some random corners of the alliance searching for opportunities for enlightenment. No wonder Gerald was never interested in any of them! It's because he already has something way better!

"Please extend our gratitude to Uncle," Orstead stated. His gaze couldn't be peeled away from the room; he clearly wanted to begin as soon as possible.

"Do it yourselves." Gerald replied, "We'd stay here for a while anyway. Besides, I also don't know how long Dad can stay around either, so don't be surprised if he suddenly disappears."

"That's why if we couldn't do it, you do it for us. We are seriously grateful for this opportunity," Orstead insisted.

"Alright, I would. It's no big deal anyway. You guys can start now; I'll guard you," Gerald declared.

"You won't join us?" Lorelei asked.

"I've outgrown this place, so no."

"Oh."

They pressed him for more details because they knew he wasn't lying to them. Having just witnessed what Gerald was truly capable of, of course they're convinced.

Since that's out of the way, Gerald's friends all sat down at the vacuum of space, creating enough distance in between themselves so as to not interfere with each other during their enlightenment period.

**

"Ooooh, you're so cute! And so squishy too! You're like a marshmallow! What's your name, little one?" Cedric asked as he held the little crystal sprite in his arms.

"M-My name is Linus! G-greetings to you, Grandmaster!" Linus' tiny and squeaky voice came out embarrassed and overwhelmed with his Grandmaster's fiery enthusiasm.

"Linus, huh? Oh, my wives are going to love you so much. How old are you, Linus?"

"I'm ten years old."

Cedric's expression turned slightly more serious as he heard that, but only Gilderoy and Allura noticed it.

"Hmm, usually, ten-year-old Crystal Sprites are much bigger than you are," he carefully revealed. "I've heard a little about your situation, and this must be because of the lack of nutrition. Well, it's a good thing that you're with us now; you'll no longer have to worry about that. Just follow your master's instructions, and you'll grow up big and strong very soon, understand?"

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Very good!" Cedric then patted Linus' fluffy head, and in just three strokes, the little guy fell asleep in his arms.

Gilderoy took this chance to explain, "His body is nearly done adjusting to the nutrients we're giving him. Soon, he should have a growth spurt."

"I know, I can sense it," Cedric replied, which made Gilderoy relax. He did think that he was in trouble for not raising his disciple well.

What Cedric didn't say is that Linus has a congenital disease. One that even Gilderoy himself couldn't sense. And that's understandable since his son is not yet at the appropriate level.

Linus was destined to not live past 25 years old, meaning that he only had 15 more years left for his lifespan. This was because of the complications during his birth, which altered his genes.

Essentially, Linus' talent was the result of him involuntarily trading his lifespan for it. It's the balancing act of nature.

It wouldn't be much of a problem if Gilderoy managed to break through to the Void Refinement Realm within the next 15 years. Once he inspects Linus' body at that stage, he will sense what Cedric sensed, and he'd be able to cure this himself.

But since this was their first meeting, as the little guy's grandmaster, Cedric should bestow him a gift. The kid deserves it for being polite, after all.

And so, as Cedric held the sleeping crystal sprite in his arms, he placed a palm on his back and infused him with a single spark of Chaos Energy—one that he filtered enough to ensure that it wouldn't kill the kid, just enough to be extremely beneficial instead.

Gilderoy and Allura only saw Cedric's palms lighting and warming up as he held the little guy. They couldn't sense what he did.

Once he's done, Cedric said, "There we go. He should grow up healthier and faster after this."

He then looked at his son and daughter-in-law and said, "You better prepare some food for him because once he wakes up, he'll be ravenous."