Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 800: Gibson’s Failure

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Another failure…

Even with Urek’s hard-fought information, Gibsone still failed to break through to the Primal Origin Lifeform Realm.

Here he lies on the floor, surrounded by Patricia, Berk, the still injured Urek, and Nicholas. Patricia was already doing her best to heal him, and all of their expressions were grim.

“Keh…I failed, sorry,” Gibson whined weakly as he felt pain wracking his entire body.

“I’m alright, man, you’re okay. We got you,” Berk softly stated, crouching near him.

Patricia kept her expression still, but inwardly, she was horrified. As the one healing him, she could sense just how badly hurt Gibson was.

His injuries were even worse than Urek’s back then.

Gibson wasn’t hurt physically; well, he was, but the physical injuries already healed. His injuries were both spiritual and conceptual.

His spirit source—the very origin of his soul and spirit, the one that makes him unique amongst everybody else—was damaged too. This didn’t happen to Urek.

It doesn’t make sense. Gibson shouldn’t be this careless. Even if he were desperate, there should’ve been no real need for him to risk being wiped out from existence just to force the breakthrough.

Patricia didn’t want to believe that he’d do something like this, either. So she could only think that something went really wrong this time.

“Urek’s intel checks out…” Gibson rasped, speaking through his unspeakable pain. “…however, I didn’t expect that the more shackles I broke through, the more difficult it would get.”

“The difficulty shoots up with each shackle broken.” He heaved, “I can’t tell how much, just that it’s a lot.”

“I was nearly gone, you see.” Gibson chuckled despite the pain, which made him wince because even simple laughter agitates his injuries.

“Got too immersed in one of the scenarios. If I hadn’t gone all out, I would’ve forgotten reality altogether. I didn’t want to die yet, so I risked it.”

Cough! Cough!

“Because of that, my spirit source is damaged.”

His friends inhaled sharply upon hearing this. Only Patricia didn’t because she already knew.

“It’s alright. We can fix this. You did your best, and that’s more than enough.” Nicholas offered comforting words to him, hoping to soothe Gibson’s heart after this failure.

“Ugh! Son of a bitch! This hurts a lot,” Gibson complained, much to the amusement of his friends.

“But yeah, sorry guys. I also couldn’t figure out what’s up with the mid-section shackles. I tried to probe it, just like Urek did, but it wasn’t responding. Like, at all. It’s so weird.”

Gibson was putting this very lightly, but everybody could tell what he meant.

That’s two of them now who failed to discover what exactly the conditions were to break the mid-section shackles, and both of them failed. This is no longer a matter of their poor observation skills; they’re not the problem. That shackle is.

Now, the only people who’ve yet to attempt their breakthrough are Berk, Patricia, and Nicholas. If they can’t figure out the trick, then it might as well be impossible for them to actually reach the realm they yearned for.

“The wrist shackles are no problem. I just have to be more prepared. I failed this time because I didn’t expect the difficulty of breaking them to increase every time a shackle was broken.”

“Next time, I’d be more prepared. Next time, I’d be more ready. Next time, I’d break through all of them, hopefully including those pesky mid-section shackles.”

“Next time…definitely.”

That’s all he could say before weakness completely took over him. He lost consciousness after that.

“He’s alright. Just, really weak. He’ll live, I promise.” Patricia was quick to inform the rest about this, not wanting them to worry about Gibson.

That relieved them greatly. At least he didn’t die.

Also, it was clear that this didn’t break Gibson’s spirit at all. His eyes remained fiery to the very end.

It’s easy to overlook this, mainly because Gibson was the epitome of cool, calm, and collected. But at his core, Gibson was extremely competitive.

Actually, that competitiveness is what brought him this far.

Unlike Urek, Gibson wasn’t born with a golden spoon in his mouth. In fact, aside from the bare minimum, he had nothing at all.

He was an orphan at birth, and nobody adopted him. The matrons at the orphanage he grew up in were his parents as far as he remembered.

Couples didn’t want him because they think he’s too troublesome. He’s anti-social; his eyes look as if they doubt everything and everybody; he doesn’t speak much, and he certainly doesn’t seem easy to raise.

This wasn’t his fault. Gibson was born smart. He’s mature beyond his years. He questions everything, and the way he does it gives adults around him a very hard time.

Gibson, while not very talkative, was straightforward with his words. He has no filter, doesn’t know how to consider others’ feelings before speaking his thoughts, and is very adamant when he knows he’s right about something.

These were the reasons why people tend to avoid him.

It was the nuns at the orphanage who taught him how to be considerate and kind. But even that was a challenge for them. Gibson sure didn’t make the task easy for them because, in his mind, being honest was the ultimate kindness there is, and that’s exactly what he’s doing.

It wasn’t until he was in his late teenage years that he learned how to be more human, and it was his best friend who taught that to him.

This best friend of his was his exact opposite. He’s stupid, loud, very energetic, boastful, and lies a lot to save face. He has the very profile of someone that Gibson hated the most about the people around him.

But this dog did take one look at him and decided that ’Yep, he’s my friend now,’ and never left his side ever since.

Gibson did everything to peel this dude out of his skin, but he stuck to him like glue. Gibson doesn’t welcome his presence, but he doesn’t care. He forced his way in, completely disregarding Gibson’s feelings.

Ironically, that was his first lesson. It took this one dude for Gibson to understand what other people feel about him whenever he disregards his feelings.

And the lessons just kept coming after that. This dude broke every wall, every belief Gibson established about himself, and every ideal he thought was right about being a human being and changed him fundamentally.

More importantly, this dude started competing with him through everything. It started as a poor attempt to get a reaction from him, and eventually, it became a thing between them.

At first, Gibson thought it was stupid. There’s no way he’d lose to this buffoon. But to his surprise, he learned yet another lesson because of this, and that’s the taste of defeat.

Luck or not, that dude won more times than Gibson expected. Sure, he lost a lot to Gibson, but whenever he won? Oh, Gibson was pissed, especially because Gibson never holds back when it comes to him.

Unbeknownst to him, he changed, for the better. That stupid guy brought enough chaos into his dull and quiet life and made it that much more colorful.

They got married eventually, something that a young Gibson would find simply impossible—the worst joke and lie anybody could ever tell.

But it’s true. And the adult Gibson wouldn’t have it any other way.

Alas, all good things must end. His husband, despite Gibson’s best efforts, died. In the end, he couldn’t keep up with Gibson’s potential. They both walked the path of life evolution, but his husband’s talent had never been as good as his, and he eventually reached the end of his lifespan.

He had a peaceful death, though. It was painful for Gidbson, of course. One that still stings to this day. But at least he died with a smile.

However, before he died, his husband made him promise one thing. And that is for Gibson to reach as far as he could on the road of life’s evolution.

Not to revive him someday, but for Gibson to reach his full potential. Or at the very least, so that he wouldn’t die with a belly full of regrets.

And with his competitive streak and the grief he stomached beside his husband’s deathbed, Gibson swore to uphold that promise.

Gibson never looked back after that.

And even now, he’s still doing his best to uphold that promise. That’s why the fire in his eyes never faltered. Gibson has stated failure before, and that hasn’t stopped him.

This was just one of them. He’s far from done. He’d recover from this, and eventually, he’d give it another try.

So long as he’s alive, he won’t stop.

Because that’s the promise he made to his late husband. This was one of the early lessons Gibson learned from him. It’s what defined their relationship till the very end.

And maybe. Just maybe…

If he succeeds, maybe there will be a chance for him to reunite with that foolish husband of his. Maybe he could find a way to revive him.

And maybe, they could continue where they left off, sharing a life full of bliss and happiness.