Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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'Well, it seems that I severely underestimated just how understaffed this camp was.'

This is Cedric's initial thoughts upon seeing the long and extensive list of missions that offers merit points for rewards.

From huge and important tasks like exploring the abyssal zone near the camp or hunting down void creatures to harvest materials from them to simple tasks like preparing MREs, cleaning, and assisting others, all sorts of missions could be found here.

The list was so long that even an incompetent life evolver would surely find something that even they could do.

It puzzled him since Cedric had seen androids around here. He thought that for menial tasks, they would use these androids instead to free up some hands, but it seems that the camp has its own considerations too.

Cedric already compiled a list of tasks that he found interesting. These tasks had varying amounts of merit point rewards, but there's not that much of a difference since they're relatively within the same level of difficulty.

He would still need time to refine his choices. After all, he couldn't do all of these tasks even if he wanted to.

Since his performance was going to be tracked, he had to be careful. According to the stipulations, he must gain a total of 1000 merit points by each year that he remains a cadet. No, this isn't a payment for him to stay; it will only serve as proof that he wasn't being lazy or tardy here. He wouldn't lose these 1000 merit points; he just needed to accumulate that total amount, and he has an entire year to do so.

Truthfully, this wasn't hard. Even for a beginner like Cedric, accumulating 1000 merit points to fill the quota isn't that difficult, even more so with the skillset he could offer. Most of the missions Cedric knew for certain he could do, the pay was at least above 70 to 100s of merit points.

So long as he's diligent enough, he could complete this quota in a month or two. And if he could, then others could too.

The reason behind the ease of this was under the consideration that even cadets have to reserve some time for their cultivation. No one here was a fool; most people applied for this position to gain access to resources, and the camp simply can't turn them away since they gravely need people.

Even though it's almost certain that most of these people are just here for the opportunities presented before them and have no desire to lay down their lives for the sake of protecting the realm and will eventually leave, they had to accept them anyway.

People who will willingly sacrifice their lives for the sake of others are far too few in between. Even if the border patrol guardians were to scour the entirety of the alliance to find such people, they'd only get a handful, and the time and effort spent to do so was simply not worth it.

But if he wants to be promoted from a cadet to an interim officer, simply accumulating merit points is not enough.

Promotions not only require some level of merit but also recommendations from your fellow guardians. Of course, there is a systematic criteria to be followed, and one can't simply bribe their way into their desired position; this is, after all, the Border Patrol Sector that even the Chancellors of 'The Six' had to respect.

But promotions are still out of his reach right now, so Cedric doesn't dare think too much of it.

He returned his focus to the list of tasks that fit his skillset. And after thinking about it, he chose three that fit his requirements.

First was the Weapon Refinement Hall requesting apprentices. The pay was 50 merit points per day under the assumption that the performance was acceptable.

The reason why this was first on his list was because he needed more equipment. The three ticket stubs he received for officially joining the cadet army were simply not enough for his needs. Cedric requires a sword case made from the same materials as the standard-issued service weapons. Moreover, the weapon ticket stubs he had couldn't be used to exchange for sword cases because they're too valuable.

So, if he wanted to have a weapon that can effectively be used against void creatures, he had to either accumulate enough merit points to purchase it or make one his own.

If he could successfully become a weapon refinement hall apprentice, he could possibly learn their ways and eventually become skilled enough to create his own weapon that's perfectly suitable for his needs and more.

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Next on the list was the recruitment of the medical department. They're looking for apprentices as well. The pay here varies within the range of 50 merit points at minimum, and there's no maximum amount of merit points earned. Of course, this depends on the performance of the apprentice.

The reason behind the high payment ceiling was because injuries caused the void, which is incredibly difficult to deal with. It not only requires one to be knowledgeable, it is also incredibly demanding on one's skill level.

Of course, not all injuries within the camp are from the void. There are accidents here and there that could be cured through normal means. That's why the pay here varies greatly.

And finally, there is also the recruitment posting for the Tech Hall. They're looking for assitants to help them build or improve more androids and other modern technologies to help the camp or resist the void. The minimum pay here was 70 merit points per session.

Learning never stops for Cedric. Even though he's far from the true prosperity of the alliance, it's no excuse for him to stagnate his understanding about their technology so that one day he could apply to his home as well.

Besides, with how severely understaffed this place was, helping them to build more androids to help out with the menial tasks and repairs would surely be appreciated.

But beyond the rich pay and his personal reasons, one of the main reasons why Cedric chose these three amongst other missions was because in these tasks, he could see possibilities of himself being able to practice his refinement techniques.

He's still far from completely mastering the cosmic furnace spell. So far, he only mastered the Fire Law Refinement Chapter. To complete the five fundamental elements refinement, he still needs to practice the Wood, Metal, Earth, and Water Law Chapters.

With these missions, he sees opportunities to gain more insights, elevating his practice efficiency.

Getting paid while increasing his refinement mastery? Isn't that a win-win scenario?

For cadets like him, applying to traverse the void or any other huge tasks was biting off more than he could chew. It's practically suicide. Although these tasks are available for people like him, nobody's really expecting them to apply for them. And even if they do, they'd have to go through numerous clearances before they're approved. It's just a hassle.

Besides, Cedric's not in a hurry to see what's on the other side of the realm. He's not even sure if he really wanted to, to be honest. So why would he even consider those missions?

His immediate concern was to increase his mastery over the Cosmic Furnace Spell so that he could undergo his First Transition right away, taking his first crucial step to becoming a Cosmic Level expert.

In the end, strength still speaks the loudest, and that also applies here.

Cedric can apply for all three of these tasks at the same time, and he could juggle them according to his preferred schedule. So long as he's doing something productive, the supervisors of the camp won't interfere with his actions too much, nor will they reprimand him. As long as he's making himself useful, it's all good.

After he's done considering his choices, he applied for the missions and waited for approval. Tomorrow marks the end of his little break, anyway, so he's ready to move.

For now though, since he still has time, he figured that he should reconnect with his family.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

With that thought, he entered the virtual universe and appeared in the communal world. He saw that his family was online, so he sent them a message and waited for their response.

He didn't need to wait long until they arrived one by one.

This wasn't the first time he met them after he left. Actually, after his hellish first day at work, he immediately sought their presence. And even though he could only be with them in the virtual universe, it's enough to stave away his loneliness.

Fortunately, it's also the same for them. It was also fortunate that his family wasn't doing terrible, even though he wasn't by their side physically. Gerald, Gilderoy, and his wives are adjusting to their lives, exploring the properity of the alliance while Godwyn was acclimating to his new position as Prime Earth's second governor. He's still learning greatly, but he's showing remarkable progress.

In no time, Cedric knew that Godwyn would eventually get used to it and might even perform even better than he did.

Despite being away, all is fine within the Stormrider household.