Chapter 840: Scenario Trial

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Angelo’s words didn’t trigger any strong response from Cedric. Instead, he just looked solemn as he stared at the swimming stone tablets within the nebula.

“Oho, your mental resilience is quite admirable,” Angelo pointed out.

“Just being realistic.” Cedric shrugged. “Ruling the whole Primitive Universe sounds cool and all, but that’s just immense paperwork in reality.”

“Besides, the requirements are too high. Comprehending all Origin Laws? I don’t even know how many there are in there. Mastering what I already have already takes too much time. Forget about comprehending all; I can’t even guarantee that I’d master one.” Cedric pursed his lips.

He’s being humble here. He already knew, since learning everything he could about this place, that he wouldn’t leave unless he mastered and gained the recognition of at least 2 Origin Laws. It’s either this happens or he dies first; he won’t accept anything less.

“Hah! If only those who came after you had the same thoughts as you did during their first time here, there’d be a lot more people around. Alas, the temptation of replacing the Supreme Will was simply just too much for them to ignore.”

Angelo wasn’t joking here. He had seen way too many people who thought too highly of themselves just because a massive opportunity was shown in front of them. Once the idea of becoming the ruler of the Primitive Universe takes root in their mind, it’s already too late.

Cedric, of course, was different. He wasn’t in a hurry, and the idea of becoming or replacing the Supreme Will never occurred to him. In his experience so far, being the strongest and establishing authority just means transferring to a much larger prison and new mountains of paperwork.

He’s got enough as is; he doesn’t want more.

Of course, the idea of comprehending Origin Laws to his heart’s content sure sounded nice, but he wasn’t in a hurry. He never rushed when it comes to life evolution, law comprehension, and perfecting his skills. He always exercised patience, moderation, and routine.

That’s why, to him, Angelo’s words didn’t cause too much disturbance.

“You know, I was thinking…”

“Hm?”

“10 days aren’t much at all,” Cedric pointed out, and this is true, especially for someone like him. “Would it be possible for me to…you know, fight whatever it is that everybody’s fighting first? Just to see what I need to face and maybe earn more comprehension time reward.”

“You can do that.” Angelo nodded.

He simply waved his hand, and space parted right next to him. Cedric looked over before hearing him say, “This is where you go to enter the trial zone. This will automatically show itself to you next time even without me.”

“Once you go in, you’d understand the rules. Do you want to check it out now or use your time rewards first?”

“I’ll check out the trial zone first,” Cedric decided. Not really in a hurry to comprehend the tablets just yet.

Angelo nodded and gestured for him to go inside.

Cedric stepped in and was suddenly shocked when he felt an overwhelming, dark, and extremely sinister hostility locking onto him. The feeling made him pause in his steps and warily regard his surroundings.

A sword even appeared in his hand.

Looking around, he saw himself being transported into a darker and more sinister version of the Limitless Continent.

There’s a strong acrid stench in the air. It smelled acidic, rotten, and disgusting. Cedric could feel the urge to hurl just by being here.

The killing intent in the air was extremely strong and potent too. It’s so thick he could almost physically touch it and twist it into ribbons.

Although he’s the only living being around, he could feel the sensation of being watched…hunted, to be more precise, but for the love of all that is holy, he couldn’t locate where exactly it was coming from, and this is with the help of his divine eyes.

Then came the flood of information assaulting him from out of nowhere.

Cedric already guarded himself against everything, but this just straight up bypassed his mental defenses like they were mere suggestions.

Despite trying to fight against it, his struggles didn’t matter. His mind ended up digesting the flood of information anyway, and this is what he found out.

“The Abyss War…”

This is a scenario-type trial, according to what it said, at least. In Cedric’s eyes though, it’s more of a horde survival.

Officially, at least, the situation is that he’d be thrown in a scenario—one that was historically correct to this place.

In this scenario, he’s just another soldier on the battlefield. His task? To kill as many Abyssals as he could.

There were no formations, no order from any chain of command, and no leaders, commanders, generals, etc. Everybody’s fighting for their own survival.

To pass this trial, one must survive for a week at least.

To gain comprehension time rewards for the Origin Heaven Tablets is simple: kill the Abyssals. 1 Abyssal slain equals one day’s worth of comprehension time. Half a day if it was slain using deliberate teamwork.

The caveat is that he could get injured here, possibly even die. It’s a battle of survival, after all. And although this was just a scenario, the body of his clone was, in fact, right here. This trial was thorough in that manner.

Failing to survive for a whole week earns a strike, and it’s only allowed once. The second time means death, for real.

The worst part is that the scenario was designed to be challenging for the trialists. The enemies and the situation of the scenario will be adjusted depending on the performance of the trialist. Meaning that whatever magic or technology is being used here could learn his patterns and habits and accurately gauge his strength, and it will adjust the more he appears here.

Obviously, the harder the scenario was, the more difficult it was to earn time rewards, which is why there are many who failed before and ended up either perishing or willingly going to the Other Side.

’Pain and misery, indeed,’ Cedric muttered to himself after digesting the information he received.

And whoever it was who facilitated this trial was mean enough to not give him any time to adjust, because as soon as he was done understanding the rules of the scenario, the trial started.

Woosh!

BOOM!

The spark that started it all was one earth-shaking explosion, as if a nuclear bomb just detonated mere miles away from him.

It was then followed by roars, both coming from creatures he knew and ones he hadn’t seen before.

Cedric didn’t even know when any of them appeared. The transition was so seamless and abrupt that he was caught completely off-guard.

Then, all of a sudden, he felt it.

A grave sense of danger…

The threat was unlike anything he had felt before. And when he looked at where it was coming from, he couldn’t even begin to describe what he was seeing.

It’s like the void mimicking a living being but failing miserably. The Abyssals were worse than any abomination he could’ve ever imagined they could be.

They are a threat just by existing alone; they didn’t even have to do anything to cause real harm to their surroundings. They suck the life out of everything, including light, joy, happiness, and existence…even space, time, and reality groan at their presence.

Looking at them through his divine eyes makes them even weirder. Cedric had never seen anything like them before. Even the bugs of the Horde pale in comparison to the sheer terror they bring.

At least the bugs use what they eat as nourishment or to enrich their homes. The Abyssals were just moving bottomless creatures of nothingness.

They could be hurt. They feel pain. They are capable of showing emotions and intelligence. But they feel extremely wrong.

And this war, this scenario, was all about surviving them.

’Not winning…surviving,’ Cedric thought to himself grimly.

He could see everybody doing their best to kill the Abyssals. Everybody seemed to know what they were and gave it all they got just to take them down.

But even though the living beings outnumber the Abyssals by 10:1, it didn’t matter.

The Abyssals moved with unnerving speed. Not fast, but instantly. It’s like the concept of distance and physics doesn’t exist in their eyes. They don’t ’move’ per se; they could just be where they want when they want. It’s so strange.

And they don’t fight either. All they really need to do is to exist, and they could cause severe harm to every living being, animate or inanimate.

Cedric hasn’t stayed still since the start of the scenario. He was constantly moving, blending in with the explosions and the people around him while silently observing everything.

His main task was to survive for a whole week here. Killing an Abyssal would be nice and all, but that’s not his main priority.

He wants to understand them first. He wants to learn everything he can so that he can devise a plan to kill them effectively.

Because if this trial was meant to adjust its difficulty depending on his performance, then this might be his only way to ensure that he’d survive every time.

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