Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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It has been five human days since Cedric joined Team Elric and arrived at the temporary base in the Black Lands.

Within those days, Cedric kept his focus on making new equipment for the team using True Demon Bones. The rest of the team were either idling or practicing their skills just to make sure they kept them sharp.

The entire team had no idea how the Army HQ was seemingly turned upside down during these past days, all because of the recent discovery.

Lissandra, Fiona, and Gabriel had their meeting with the High Marshals and Lord Commanders, showing them Cedric's creations and practically turning everything upside down. Not even Cedric would've guessed just how much effect his inventions had on the army.

The Demon Soul Purification Altars already caused a large commotion in the army once they were discovered. Lord knows how greatly mental demons troubled superhumans. As such, the discovery of something that could get rid of it would surely get the army's attention.

Just when they thought this would be 'THE' discovery and that they'd have to wait for a couple more years for another genius to invent another useful thing to help the race, Fiona, Lissandra, and Gabriel appeared, and with them were inventions that would seriously greatly affect humanity's operations for years to come.

That rune that could convert demon corruption into an energy source was genius. No High Marshal or Lord Commander—not even the Tech God himself—managed to create something close to that. The best or worst part about that was that the idea was already right in front of their faces all this time; it's just that none of them bothered with it.

The way that rune was created followed the basic rules of inscription symbols, something that Novice Scribes learned first and foremost. Everything leading to the final creation of the rune could be done by pretty much anybody who had a firm foundation in the fundamental rules of inscriptions.

As for the final process that would give birth to the rune, some initially thought that it'd be complicated, but it turns out that it's simpler than expected. The creator (Cedric) used the 'Filtering' rune to tie it all together.

The 'Filtering' rune was one of the simplest symbols amongst the hundreds out there. It's one of the runes that didn't find a lot of uses because there are other runes that are better than it, and practically, it's outdated. Some even considered removing it from the list.

Yet, to everybody's surprise, it's this rune that tied it all together—the final gear that made the whole thing work in perfect condition. This discovery put many Scribes into shame since, again, the answer was right in front of their faces all along; they just never bothered looking at it.

As for how useful this rune was, it doesn't need to be explained. If it could convert democratic corruption, something that's inherently harmful to humans, into an energy source safe for humans to use, then it could also be used to do many things.

An inventor's mouth would be frothing at the sheer abundance of uses they could come up with for this thing. Yet it doesn't end there, since they've been given an example.

Lissandra showed them how the rune converted corruption into a light and heat source. She also displayed how it could be used to produce water that's safe for consumption and use. She also showed the formation that Cedric made using this rune as the core—the same one that the base had.

She even showed the blueprint of the ballista that Cedric created when they arrived, the same one that uses corruption and converts it into a tangible energy source that could be used for energy weapons.

All of this astounded those who attended the meeting. Lissandra, Fiona, and Gabriel had to endure their heated and impatient gazes. They knew that they wanted to get their hands on this thing as soon as possible, but they weren't done yet.

This rune was already a work of art in their eyes; what followed it, though, was just divine.

Fiona revealed the runic array that Cedric uses to convert resources to their pre-corrupted state. And to say that the meeting rune almost exploded would be an understatement. Three out of five High Marshals lost control over their emotions and subconsciously flared their aura, causing the meeting room to nearly crumble due to their combined power.

One has to know that High Marshals, at minimum, are Star Travelers—the realm above Planar Travelers. It's already a miracle that the meeting room survived the flare of their auras.

Nobody could blame them, though. The revelation of that runic formation simply subverted their worldview. None of them ever thought about making use of corrupted resources before. Sure, they made use of Demon Bones and enslaved Demons themselves to aid on their task, but they never put too much attention on inventing a way to revert the resources of the Outer World into their pre-corrupted state.

Which was a damn shame since now that they laid eyes on this runic formation, they realized just how much they're missing out on.

And to prove that it was possible, Fiona demonstrated its use right in front of their faces. She reverted a corrupted stone boulder to its pre-corrupted state. Only about 75% of the stone boulder was reverted to its original form; the rest were corrupted beyond saving and turned into harmless dust particles after the conversion.

Still, the results were simply astounding. Everybody who attended the meeting inspected the reverted resource closely and couldn't find any faults in it. The corrupted stone boulder actually turned into an ordinary stone boulder.

And the surprise didn't end there. Fiona also used the runic array to revert a Demon Hound into an ordinary husky, which greatly surprised everyone.

She also captured some other demons on their way back: Cockatrice Demons, Demon Bulls, Elks, Silkworms, etc.

It had to be known that even though some of the test subjects survived the conversion alive, they wouldn't be living for long. Fiona explained the effects of long-term corruption on living beings' souls, word for word, as Cedric explained it to them.

But even with that, just for the simple fact that they could secure a safe and stable food source even at the depths of the enemy territory, it was enough to make the High Marshals make this a priority.

Sustainability has always been one of the main reasons why humanity hasn't moved a single inch since the establishment of their civilization here in Azure Terra. The land reclamation projects and missions always fail or barely succeed because they just can't afford to maintain them.

But with this, they see hope. This changes a lot of things. Humans have always been resourceful creatures; they were just limited for a long time since they're missing something, and that something might just be this runic array right here.

With this runic array, they could send out teams to build more outposts and not be afraid of them dying from starvation. They could send more spies to monitor the movement of the demon race. They could make more hidden bases all over the Black Lands to expand their network of activities.

And more importantly, there's hope of reclaiming this continent.

It had to be known that humanity only occupies around 30% of Azure Terra. The rest of the continent was considered part of the Black Lands because it had been steeped in corruption for decades. They tried expanding, but every attempt has failed so far.

First, the Essence Souls, and now, these...

The Army has been given so many surprises in quick succession that some of them actually feel overwhelmed. It's a pleasant surprise, though, and they wouldn't mind having more in the future.

Due to the sheer possibilities these new things brought to the table, the entire army was mobilized. Professionals had been called and were tasked with producing as many of these rune and runic arrays as possible.

Oh, was it mentioned that the materials needed to create these things were extremely cheap too? Well, now it has.

The only thing that might complicate the creation of these things would be the skill level of the professionals. But like what was mentioned earlier, so long as someone has a fair grasp of the fundamental skills of a scribe, creating these runes shouldn't be difficult at all.

Due to the value of these inventions, Cedric's name became widely known to the High Marshals and Lord Commanders. Lissandra, Fiona, and Gabriel didn't have to sing praises of his name. They let his creations speak for his skills.

When asked, the three said why Cedric didn't come with them to present his creation. Everybody wholeheartedly accepts the reason. In fact, some even proposed pulling him out of the frontlines to protect him.

The High Marhsals refused, though. They too knew that the young Sage needed to grow up and that the outer world was his stage. As much as they value his ingenuity, humans need the Young Sage to become stronger. Much, much stronger than he currently is.

And the Young Sage can't grow in their greenhouse of a civilization.

But this doesn't mean that they'd just let the Demon Race snuff his life at the first chance they get. The High Marshals knew better than everyone else just how much value a sage holds.

Sages are era definers, after all.