Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

"This is...?"

"For real?"

"Is this really happening?"

Team Elric couldn't hide their surprise as soon as they returned home.

They had already cleared their mission and were rewarded for its completion. After that, they were ordered to return to civilization and wait for future missions, which is just an official way to say that they're getting a vacation. However, upon returning to society, they were surprised to see great changes in civilization.

Common people might not easily sense it, but they could. They escorted Cedric, who modified the bases of the expedition teams on the Black Lands after all. They could recognize that Misdirecting Mist at a single glance at this point.

"They deployed an up-scaled version of your formation?" Erica muttered next to Cedric. "I sure do hope you're getting royalties from that."

"Well, that would be nice but unnecessary," he replied softly as he inspected the formation.

"Does this mean that our home is practically hidden from the eyes of stray and low-tiered demons?" Floyd wondered.

"Should be," Cedric replied. "But this doesn't guarantee its safety. We might've turned invisible, but that doesn't mean our location changed. If they have something that could accurately strike us based on our rough location, we could still be in danger."

"That's what everybody thought too, but in the mean time, this isn't bad, no?"

The team turned around and saw Fiona. "Welcome back, guys. Good work on those modifications. Those will see great uses soon. More importantly, thanks for sharing your knowledge with us, Young—Cedric. Don't worry, you'll get your share.

This is, after all, your intellectual property."

"Glad to be of assistance," Cedric replied.

"You should take advantage of your free time," Fiona advised. "Nobody knows when we'll need you again. At the very least, I'll try to give you guys a month of vacation. Anymore than that would be challenging."

"That's quite fine, Madam Fiona," Elric replied. "We're already grateful for the opportunity."

"Awesome, you're all dismissed for now. Oh, Cedric, can you stay behind for a bit? There's something I need to tell you in private."

The team looked at each other. Elric shrugged before leading the others outside. Cedric nodded to his girlfriends, and they too left along with the rest of the team to give him and Fiona some privacy.

Once they're gone, Fiona gestures to the couch and says, "Make yourself comfortable, please."

Cedric nodded and took a seat. Fiona then sat in front of him and placed a small chip on the table placed on top of a piece of paper.

"Once again, on behalf of the Human Army, we thank you for sharing your knowledge with us. Your inventions have been incredibly helpful towards our war efforts. With them, we're able to increase our security and fetch more resources that will massively increase our chances of survival. You have no idea how great of a timely assistance these were."

"Oh, uh, you're welcome. Like I said, I'm just glad that I could help." Cedric humbly replied, "I'm also glad to see that my fellow professionals gleamed inspiration from my work; I feel honored."

"Oh, it did more than just inspire them." Fiona chuckled. "Your work practically caused a creative eruption, and the Lifestyle Guild has been put in the eye of the storm. If you visit that place right now, you'll see a sea of sleepless nerds making experiments left and right."

"With our coffers practically tripling in size, thanks to your Origin Reversion Rune, they could perform tests after tests. Much like the army, the guild has been held back by the lack of resources as well."

Cedric could see it, literally. His vision could extend as far as the nearest guild branch, and, just like Fiona said, the sleepless nerds were going at it. He had lost count of how many times something exploded in the labs, and the rest have gotten used to it by now, it seems.

"Moving on, please take this." Fiona pushed the chip and the papers on the table. "This chip is something made by Charles Makarov, also known as the Lifestyle Guild's Tech God."

"It's a system plug-in chip?" Cedric asked after briefly inspecting it.

"Yes." She nodded. "More specifically, it is something that would connect you to people who could help you in case of emergency or if you have any immediate concerns. This chip would also alert them if something bad happens to you, even when you're out there at the Black Lands. It's range is limited to this continent only. If you're taken away farther, we'd have no way of reaching you."

"That's why if you feel threatened, try to trigger the signal as early as you can because it will also take time for us to discover the SOS and even more time getting to you. This is the best we could offer with our limited technology right now," Fiona concluded.

"I see. Thank you for this. I'll remember your words." Cedric took the chip and placed it on his monitoring chip while Fiona watched.

His monitoring chip scanned it and released a light that dissolved the new chip and took its essence. A flash of light passed by his sight, and several notifications from the system appeared in his vision.

"It's downloading. It says that it'd take at least three days before it becomes active," Cedric muttered as he dismissed the message windows.

"That's quite normal," Fiona said. "The contents of the plug-in are massive, especially considering that it needs to work on the Black Lands too."

"Right." Cedric nodded. He then picked up the paper and asked, "And this is?"

"It's a document that states our oath to keep your identity as a secret until you're ready to reveal it yourself." Fiona replied, "It's my idea to ensure your privacy. I made this with Acala's guidance to minimize any loopholes, and I also made a lot of people sign it; you can see who those people are at the bottom of the document."

Cedric saw it. There are at least 20 people listed here. He didn't know who the majority of them were, but he could assume that they were integral members of humanity's leadership. Fiona wouldn't have asked them to sign the NDA if they didn't know who Cedric was to begin with, and only a handful of people could access information about him—the real him.

Starlight Royal Academy's Headmastress, Lissandra Mardeux, was one of them. Aside from her, there's the Lifestyle Guild's Tech God, Charles Makarov.

The Wandering Swordmaster, Old Man Jin.

Sorcerer Supreme: Hayden Clover.

The Mountain and Sea Princess, Fiona Dragonov.

As well as several people from the army. Cedric noticed that most of them were star travelers, at least, while the rest were planar travelers.

"Wow, these are some names," Cedric commented, feeling a bit pressured. "I-I'm honored."

He knew that once he displayed his skills, he'd be valued by a few people. However, he's not expecting that there are so many people who are willing to take an oath to protect him until he's ready.

"This is something we must do, Young Sage." Fiona smiled at him. "Even though you already dealt with the cult, we still can't outrule the chances of spies within our ranks. We know that you're doing your best, so please take your time. Us old people can still prop up the sky for you youngsters."

Cedric nodded solemnly. He felt warm about the idea of being valued.

"Alright, I've kept you long enough. Enjoy your vacation." Fiona stood up, but before she left, she turned to him and said, "Keep going, Young Sage. We are right behind you."

Right after saying that, she left. Cedric was stunned for a moment before smiling. Her words could be interpreted in many ways, but he didn't mind. He knew what she meant deep in his heart.

Standing up, he kept the document in his inventory and walked out of the office. There, he found Chrissy and Erica waiting for him.

The girls looked concerned, but after seeing the calmness on his face, they were relieved.

"Let's go home," he told them. The girls nodded, and they left the office and returned to the academy.

Back at his penthouse, Cedric felt all the tension that had accumulated in his body dissipate as soon as he laid down on his bed.

He finally knew what the girls felt like whenever they returned from a long mission at this moment. Just like they said, 'There's no place like home.'

He and the girls didn't speak. He cuddled them on the bed and basked in the peaceful and serene silence of their home. And even though they weren't as tired and spent as before because they were able to rest properly in between sites thanks to Cedric's skills, they still felt drowsy shortly after returning home.

The girls were unable to fight it, especially when Cedric began humming a soft tune while gently caressing their heads. Within minutes, the girls were softly snoring and snuggling deep into his embrace.

Cedric wore a smile as he too allowed himself to drift to sleep for the first time in weeks.