—

Cedric kept tearing through the Origin Laws like they owe them money…

30 out of 99 Origin Laws…it’s not even funny at this point.

He was so far ahead, and he might as well start swaggering around the castle like he already owns it. And it wouldn’t have been wrong for him to do so.

Knowing the truth, even the ghost servants were nearly worshipping him whenever he called for them. If it weren’t for Cedric wanting to keep this matter secret for now, the ghost servants would’ve already pledged their loyalty to him and would start refusing the requests of other candidates.

At this point, Cedric was almost guaranteed to fully comprehend an Origin Law every 100 years. This wasn’t just knowing and becoming familiar with it; his was a complete mastery and full understanding. If all he wanted was to comprehend one origin law, his progress wouldn’t have been faster.

It’s just that he insists on taking each step as perfectly as he could. He wasn’t in a hurry; his progress was already frighteningly quick. If there’s someone who should be nervous, it would be the other candidates. But of course, they don’t know that just yet.

So, one origin law every 100 years, fully mastered, understood, and connected to the other origin laws he already comprehended. This was Cedric’s current comprehension speed.

This was already scary enough…

But as time passed and he comprehended more, Cedric’s comprehension speed improved marginally faster too.

For him, this was normal. He had already seen and proven that every origin law was connected to each other somehow no matter how they appeared otherwise. And with this connection, it makes it easier for him to also understand them faster.

Hell, they’re practically revealing themselves to him. If it weren’t for his needs to participate in the trials to unlock the other halves of the origin laws, he would’ve stayed in comprehensive immersion continuously.

And this is with Cedric taking regular breaks, too.

He wasn’t desperately chasing after immediate gains or stressed about being taken over. He’s following a routine, a healthy schedule, which allows him to maintain his current state of mind and the speed of his comprehension.

A play and work balance, if you will.

Cedric’s ‘play time’ wasn’t him lounging around doing nothing, either. When he’s not engaged in full and immersive origin law comprehension, he is having fun playing around with other things, such as mastering new weapons, fusing origin laws to see the results, creating things out of his own amusement, etc.

One must know that Cedric had millions of ways to entertain himself. He practically doesn’t run out of ideas at all.

If he’s not playing around with weapons or fusing origin laws just to see what they’d look like, he’s carving origin laws into stone tablets to keep in his inner world.

He’s basically replicating the same nebula where he comprehends origin law from stone tablets, only in his inner world.

That said, it’s not a one-to-one copy.

The origin law stone tablets that Cedric carves had minute differences compared to the ones in the original nebula. The ones he made with his own hands had his own feelings and comprehension in them.

This was normal. Transmitting conceptual laws was never a simple matter. Everybody’s expression of concept laws differs from one another; that doesn’t mean that the other is wrong; they just have different thoughts about it. That’s what makes it interesting and profound.

As for why he’s replicating the nebula in his inner world? Well, it’s because he felt like doing it.

No, he never intended to show it to his family or disciples. That was never his original intention. Sure, he would or might do so sometimes, but that was never his goal.

He simply just wanted to do it, and he acted upon his own wishes because he could. It’s as simple as that.

**

Cedric also went out to explore the castle once upon a time. He got bored of being cooped up in his ‘room’ and blowing up islands for a time, so he decided to go out and see what other things this castle could offer.

Angelo gave him a brief tour the first time he arrived here, but he didn’t really see everything. Even now, he couldn’t since there were other places that were restricted to him.

He might be far ahead in the race, but he hasn’t crossed the finish line yet. So, out of propriety and to follow the original rules set by the previous owner of this castle, Cedric’s access remains restricted still, for now, at least.

But even Cedric hasn’t explored the places he could access. He basically locked himself in the room as soon as he arrived, and it’s only now that he felt like exploring.

So, that’s what he did.

And it’s mildly disappointing.

There wasn’t really anything that blew his mind here, only things that he had seen before. Even if there were a difference, it’s so minuscule that they’re basically the same thing.

He wasn’t impressed at all. And for a castle with this much history and importance, it was a bit disappointing, really.

But Cedric didn’t think much about it. It was disappointing, sure, but he couldn’t blame anybody for it. This castle was old; the previous owner was practically a universal prehistoric relic. For that person, this must have already been the most advanced castle. He also couldn’t blame the servant ghosts since their duty was only to maintain this castle, not add more fun things to it.

In the middle of his exploration, he ran to Angelo, who was also taking a short break from his immersion.

The two of them talked, and Angelo used this chance to forge a closer bond with him. The dude was essentially worshipping him already.

Cedric trusted that the ghost servants hadn’t told Angelo anything, that he was just doing this simply because he genuinely believed in Cedric’s talent and potential to truly inherit everything here. And of course, the dude wanted to be spared, so it’s normal for him to act this way.

While not that impressed with his efforts, Cedric didn’t shy away from this. Truthfully, Angelo didn’t have to stoop this low. Cedric would’ve spared him otherwise since he’s human too, and Angelo was a genuinely nice dude. He helped him once, and Cedric would repay that favor eventually.

But Cedric also wasn’t one to flaunt his achievements. Besides, he already made his promise, and he would certainly remember it.

From his probing, Cedric learned that Angelo now comprehended 8 Origin Laws in total. After thousands of years, he only made this much progress.

Well, truthfully, that was already impressive. It proves that Angelo’s talent wasn’t bad to begin with. In fact, he was the smarter and more talented one among the other candidates; that’s how he managed to reach this far.

It’s just that Cedric was a different beast altogether. Comprehending and completely mastering one origin law every 100 years guaranteed? Nobody among the current candidates would dare to say something like that, let alone manage to actually do it.

Only Cedric could.

Aside from Angelo, they also met another candidate in this race by chance.

Cedric couldn’t tell what kind of creature it was since he had never seen it before. Even Angelo or the ghost servants don’t know. But that person was certainly hostile to the two of them.

Sparks practically appeared when Angelo and that person’s gazes met. Cedric was admittedly a little surprised by the immediate and sharp hostility they showed to each other. It’s like they’ve seen their mortal enemies in a non-agression zone.

Even though they so badly wanted to tear each other apart, they couldn’t because they’re forbidden from doing so.

And the hostile gaze of the other party also extended to Cedric as well, much to his chagrin.

“He calls himself ‘Apex,’ an undeserved name if you ask me. His talent is trash compared to mine, and given that my talent is inferior to yours by a huge margin, you don’t need to put this thing in your eyes. He’s a dead man walking anyway.”

Angelo mocked Apex right in front of his face. Apex, obviously, didn’t like that. But all he could do was to growl and clench his fist in frustration before stomping away like a kid throwing temper tantrums.

“That guy has an extremely venomous tongue, so much so that he caused me to nearly break the rules when I was still new here and spouts bullshit unprovoked, so no need to be polite to him.”

“The only reason why he left without saying a word was because he’s afraid of you now.”

“He must’ve already been informed by the ghost servants that you’ve already comprehended 13 Origin Laws. He hasn’t even broken through ten, and I am already catching up to him.”

“Had it not been for that, he would’ve made our ears bleed with his trashtalk. And he’s confident too because he cozied up to the old man who’s currently leading the race.”

“But now, he couldn’t do that anymore. Why? It’s simply because that old man died.”

“With him dead, you, Cedric, are now the leading man in this race. And he knows he can’t cozy up to you anymore because I’m here; he knows I won’t let him, so he’s scared.”

“And rightfully so, ha!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep