Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"I'm sorry, but I don't understand," Hawkeye stated as she looked at others. "Can you tell me what this Inter-Prodigy Tournament is all about?"

It was Eunuch Wei who answered this since he's the one who knew most about the alliance and the tower because of his clan's history.

"The Inter-Prodigy Tournament is just a little event to spice up our time here." He begins, "You know how there are multiple lobbies with tons of challengers, right?"

Hawkeye nodded to this, and so did Cedric, who's listening closely.

"All challengers in the same lobby will automatically be on a team, representing their lobby, and they'd be competing against other lobby teams."

"There's really no consequences for losing other than disappointment; be it towards yourself or disappointing those who'd be watching. Technically, that is. Those who perform well will of course be rewarded heavily."

"Technically?" Cedric repeated in curiousity.

"Yeah, the Tower Master as well as the sponsors of the tower will be watching, but it's not just them. In truth, this is also a chance for us to be recruited."

"Recruited to what?" Morning Wood asked.

"To sects or organizations," Eunuch Wei answered. "The reputation of the tower is known to the entire alliance. We're already prime targets for recruitment no matter how high our achievements were inside the tower, but usually they would wait until we were released from the tower before they began approaching us."

"The Inter-Prodigy Tournament gives them a legitimate excuse to poach us earlier than that; the Tower Master won't stop them from doing so either. And those who decided to go to a sect, for example, will be released from the tower after receiving the rewards they got from their performance at the tournament."

"So, it's a shortcut then?" Hawkeye tilted her head in wonder.

"Well, yeah. You can say that." Eunuch Wei nodded. "But it's also an opportunity for us to broaden our horizons and make friends and/or connections. After all, this tournament is meant to be a friendly one."

"Do you know the contents of the tournament itself?" Howler asked, "Because, you know, any advantages we could have would be great."

"No, I don't know." Eunuch Wei sighed. "That would be nice, yes, but the contents of the tournament were confidential. Plus, I heard that it depends on the whims of the Tower Master, meaning that it's very likely that it wouldn't be the same as the last one. We'd have to adapt on the fly."

"It says here that the tournament will take place on the first day of the next month." Moss Lady stated, "Which is like, five days from now. That really isn't enough time to prepare for this."

"Well, what can we do? That's just the way it is. It's not like any of us here could negotiate with the Tower Master." Eunuch Wei smiled wryly.

Yeah, everybody agreed with him. They don't have what it takes to even stand beside the Tower Master, much less any value to change his mind.

"Let's just do our best," Hawkeye encouraged everybody. "I mean, we're already doing well for ourselves anyway; this shortcut is nice but not really necessary. Let's just see how far we can go, yeah?"

"Well, I'm okay with anything," Eunuch Wei shrugged. "How about you guys?"

"I'm down," Cedric readily replied.

"Me too," Moss Lady responded.

"Me three," Howler said, earning a half-hearted glare from the forest fairy.

That makes the five of them agree to perform to the best of their abilities, not caring what the final results will be. The silence from Backpack Fatty and Morning Wood, however, was particularly defeaning.

"I, uh...well, haha..." Backpack Fatty stuttered awkwardly as he felt the stare of his fellow challengers. Morning Wood also wore a strange expression on his face.

"Uh, well...you see, I uh..."

"Just like some of us here, you are the first of your kind to arrive at the tower. And seeing its prosperity and grandness made your yearn for it. While you know that you already had a bright future ahead of you, knowing that there is a legitimate way to achieve your goals faster, you're thinking of taking advantage of it, but now you feel a bit hesitant since this is a team effort and you don't want to overstep your boundaries for your 'selfish' ambitions...did I get it right?" Cedric asked with an amused smile.

"Spot on," Morning Wood replied while Backpack Fatty just nodded while laughing in embarrassment.

"Honestly, I respect the hustle..." Cedric commented.

"Same." Howler nodded sagely.

"...and I'm the same as you two. I also am the first of my kind to arrive here. But I don't think you guys have anything to worry about. We will perform to the best of our abilities. We're not taking this tournment lightly; we're just saying that, if it turns out that our best wasn't enough, we wouldn't be too disappointed with our final results. After all, whether we managed to catch the attention of those VIPs or not, we already have a bright future after we leave here."

Cedric didn't say that he's already been a member of the alliance for quite some time now since it isn't the right time to do so. It would just sound like he's rubbing it in their faces if he did that.

Honestly, he could relate to their anxiety. If he hadn't had the contaminated soul of the Demon God as well as the lost members of the Forsaken Race, he too would most likely see this event as an opportunity to achieve his goals faster.

"Oh, is that so?" Morning Wood blinked in surprise. Then he laughed with a strange expression and said, "It seems that I misunderstood you guys then. I thought you didn't care about the event."

"We do, just not as much as you two," Howler replied. "But that doesn't mean that we'd just take a beating. We'll fight for it and do our best to help you two out."

Eunuch Wei kept his mouth shut but nodded anyway. Frankly, he could say that he truly doesn't care about this event at all, but out of consideration for both Backpack Fatty and Morning Wood's feelings, he decided to keep it to himself.

Unlike most of them here, Eunuch Wei's future is already set in stone. As the most stellar genius of his generation, he shouldered a heavy responsibility and didn't have many options to choose from. His elders already paved the way for him; all he had to do was walk on it and reach the end.

Sure, he would catch the attention of some people in this tournament. That will only be natural since he's from the Angel Clan, which held a considerable amount of reputation in the alliance. But unless some really famous sect or organization that has a reputation surpassing that of what the Angel Clan has made and offered to him, he would most likely ignore the rest.

After all, his people won't allow him to settle for anything other than the best option they have.

As for Howler, it's not that he doesn't care. He's just... well, he's Howler. He lives by instinct, and so far, it's going well for him. This tournament doesn't really have any other allure to him other than the prospect of fighting some powerful people.

Moss Lady and Hawkeye are the same as Morning Wood and Backpack Fatty; they too were the first of their kind to arrive here, and they also want to become members of the alliance and add their people to its growing size. But unlike these boys, they're not in a hurry.

Morning Wood and Backpack Fatty really felt guilty for emphasizing this to them. After all, none of them has to comfort any of them or listen to their selfish requests. But they also couldn't lie to themselves.

Backpack Fatty's people, the Mountain Giants, are scarce in number. As well-endowed as they are from birth, they unfortunately are least blessed with the gift of reproduction. It takes thousands of years for another one of them to appear, and even then, it's not guaranteed since the pregnancy of a Mountain Giant was extremely sensitive and they are prone to miscarriage. He personally witnessed this happening a lot, and even though he's not personally involved, it doesn't make it any less heartbreaking.

Joining the alliance to search for a method to break this curse was his true purpose for coming here.

As for Morning Wood, he's supposed to be like Moss Lady, who's mostly unbothered, but Hermit's fate really shook him awake. His world, and in extension, Moss Lady's world as well, sits near the edge of the Primeval Scarlet Dust Realm, and he's worried that they might get invaded by the Outsiders too.

He worries greatly about that and wanted to join the alliance as soon as possible, hoping to become a valuable member and have someone move his home closer to the alliance for protection as well. And seeing that there's a shortcut available, of course, he's eager to take advantage of it.

Fortunately, the two of them were surrounded by good people. At the very least, they don't have to feel so anxious about not getting a chance to be noticed in this upcoming tournament.