Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

Chapter 836: Torunament Again; The Audience Misses Dawnbringer

—

The Heavenly Star Millennial Tournament went on.

Everybody who participated was already registered. Cedric didn’t say anything more to them since it wasn’t necessary. But he was watching the event as it was streamed live.

Surprisingly, the preliminary rounds remained the same from the last tournament—the one Cedric participated in.

It’s still divided into three stages: Wave Survival, Skill Check, and Versus.

In Wave Survival, the participants are forced into an area where they have to clear wave upon wave of enemies. They are given some time in between waves to recover; whether they use it or not is up to them.

The Skill Check stage tests their wisdom, intelligence, and comprehension. Here, they’d been placed in separate rooms where they needed to learn a skill, spell, or technique. They’re given ample time to learn, but if they want to leave the room they’re in, they have to beat the room’s guardian first. Only after doing so were they allowed to move to the next room that has another skill for them to learn.

And finally, the Versus stage is a 1v1 brawl in the virtual universe. It’s simple and direct but all the more entertaining to watch too. Since it’s happening in the virtual universe, the participants can go all in. No need to hold back at all.

Each stage they clear earns them a score. Their total scores will be added at the conclusion of the preliminaries to see who could move on to the finals.

Of course, just like the last time, there were seeded participants. The ancient sects and organizations still held the reputation and power to be qualified for this.

Even though he embarrassed all of them during the previous tournament, that hasn’t changed. Their prestige wasn’t something that could be erased just because a ’commoner’ surpassed them once.

Cedric watched the performance of his representatives in a detached manner.

Truth be told, he wasn’t expecting much, and he made that very clear from the get-go. He merely sent those kids to broaden their horizons, which will be beneficial for their future. He doesn’t care about their results. The mere fact that they were brave enough to participate already earned them his praise.

Of course, if they can get some solid results, that would be awesome. But it’s also fine if they couldn’t. No big deal.

And so, the tournament got underway.

Being one of the audience instead of a participant was a pleasant change for Cedric. He wasn’t the one under the spotlight anymore. Instead, he was one of the people who decides who should be under it.

Cedric hardly paid attention to strangers. His attention was focused on the people representing his territory.

The competition was fierce, tense, and bloody. Every participant had something to prove, whether to themselves or to the people watching them. And the crowd was eating it all up. He could sense the atmosphere being charged with excitement and anticipation as the tournament continued.

Cedric won’t lie. It was infectious. But he remained detached nevertheless. He’s the Sector Lord; he couldn’t be too invested. He already set his expectations low; it’s too late to change his tone.

But clearly, his representatives were determined to bring back results and earn his praise.

He could see their efforts. He could practically see calculations going off in their minds. Everything they did was measured, with no wasted effort, clean, precise, and ruthlessly efficient.

’I didn’t teach them that,’ he thought to himself. And he wasn’t lying.

The only thing he did was to provide them with training materials to solidify their skills. He’s been hands-off with their training, not wanting to influence them at all.

So their performance? It was all them. He had no part in it.

And it’s precisely because of their efficiency that they brought surprising results.

All 20 participants that came from his sector domain made it to the finals, each of them earning a passing score and acceptable ranks.

Hell, one of them even cinched the top 10 in their bracket, which was incredible.

For a young sector domain like theirs to already have warriors who could reach this far was mighty impressive. Of course, under the immense spotlight and with so many other equally, or more, impressive participants, their achievements have been dimmed.

But it certainly wasn’t invisible to Cedric’s eyes.

The batch of participants this time was genuinely impressive. Hell, there were some who even borrowed a few ideas from his style and displayed them here.

But it’s also because of this that comparisons became prevalent.

Once again, Cedric became a fierce topic that many people debated, especially after seeing his shadow from the few participants.

“This one got his style but not his strength.”

“Yeah, he’s all flair. He failed to grasp the real essence behind Dawnbringer’s excellence.”

“This one, on the other hand, has strength but not discipline.”

“Just a brute who uses way more strength than necessary. Sure, his basics are solid, but anybody with the same strength level as he could replicate what he does.”

“Damn, I suddenly miss Dawnbringer. Only he could display elegance and skill using the mundane with his sword art. I still dream about him on some days.”

“Yeah, I miss him too. I wonder where he is now?”

“He couldn’t have died, right? He’s alive, right?”

“He should be. He’s not that stupid. We all know that.”

“But we haven’t heard from him in so long! There’s practically no news from him since he won the previous tournament!”

“And that’s normal. With how much of a genius he is, he will face threats to his life everywhere. If I were him, I’d hide too. Bid my time and only come out once I’m truly unrivalled.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“But I do wish I could see his sword arts again.”

Even though Cedric had practically disappeared from everybody’s radar since winning the previous tournament, he’s still being fondly remembered by the audience.

It’s clear that he left a lasting impression on everybody, especially with how he dominated the previous tournament.

Some were even saying that the batch of participants this time wouldn’t even be fit to be used as his footstool.

Cedric ignored most of these. He had reasons as to why he hid from them. But, in truth, Cedric could already return.

He’s already strong and stable enough to ensure that nobody could cross him. It’s just that he doesn’t care enough to do so. He preferred peace and quietness instead of frenzy.

Right now, as a Sector Lord, he’s just happy that his participants managed to make it to the finals. In fact, he’s already thinking about rewarding them.

But obviously, that will have to wait until the tournament is over.

—

The tournament continued, yet despite the audience searching for any last-minute surprises, there were none.

The finals weren’t the same as the previous one, but the general gist was the same: test the limits of the participants and force them to display the limits of their strength.

And that’s precisely what happened. They’ve watched the participants bleed, suffer, and hurt. They were forced to use everything in their arsenal, whether they wanted to or not.

Yet, amidst the cheers and the applause of the entire chaos realm for them, there was an underlying sense of disappointment.

There were a couple of people who were brave enough to point this out, but they’ve gotten buried by the noise. Still, they were seen and heard, and deep down, the majority of the audience agreed.

’The participants of this millennium’s tournament were lackluster compared to the previous one.’

More specifically, they’re extremely lacking compared to the legendary ’Dawnbringer.’

In terms of skill, talent, and flair, nobody in this millennium’s tournament could hold a candle to him. Even the one who cinched the first place doesn’t come close.

Although this consensus was buried under the cheers and celebration of the crowd, it could be felt. The first place winner didn’t feel the genuine acknowledgement of the crowd. He felt slighted, and he could sense their disappointment.

But this person wasn’t stupid. He knows when he’s outclassed, and he gets it. He himself admitted that he wouldn’t stand a chance in front of Dawnbringer, not even close.

He just accepted it as is. Comforted by the fact that the probability of Heavenly Star seeing another Dawnbringer was practically nonexistent. He’s a standard that could almost never be replicated, and everybody knows that.

That’s why he accepted things as the way they are and moved on. Either way, he didn’t really lose out on anything. In fact, he gained a lot—and I’m not just referring to the prize or the attention, although those, too, count.

As for Cedric, he was satisfied.

None of his representatives ended up within the top 100 in the final round, but all of them did enter the top 200.

To him, this was more than enough. It’s excellent, even, considering the hundreds of thousands of participants who joined the tournament this time.

And of course, as their Sector Lord, he’d be unworthy of his position if he didn’t at least give them ample rewards for their hard work.