CHAPTER 757: THE COUNCILLORS

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Each throne hung in the skies like they were stars. Each one was unique, maybe even personalized to those who are sitting upon them.

Those sitting at the throne looked and felt distant to Cedric. Even with his good eyes, he could barely make out their faces. But even so, he could see hints of how insanely strong these people were. He’s aware that what he’s seeing is only but the surface of their true power.

It wasn’t until one of them waved a finger that the light blurring their faces disappeared, allowing Cedric to finally take a look at their appearances.

Obviously, all of them were human; this was the Human Council, after all. It wouldn’t be right if creatures of the other races were sitting here.

That said, among the seven people he saw, only one of them looked like a stereotypical human; the rest had their own mutations, like an extra limb, grafted body part, etc.

Cedric took a deep breath and performed a curt bow in greeting. He needn’t speak. He knows he’s understood.

"Very impressive," one of them praised. "You are the most resplendent genius we have ever seen in all of human history. The feats you showed in the tournament will definitely be recorded in the annals of history and will be very difficult to surpass."

"More like impossible, but go on," another one commented off-handedly.

Cedric stayed silent.

"It would also seem that the spire was indeed as miraculous as we thought." Another councilman spoke, "Say what you want about that thing, but you cannot call it a liar."

"Very true. Directly increasing one’s cultivation from the Immortal Warrior all the way to the Universe Master Realm is something that even we, the Human Council, couldn’t easily do."

"It’s not just a simple upgrade, either. It’s a total transformation without any side effects. Pure benefit. That’s rare."

"There’s the direct upgrade to the Heavenly Law too. Oh man, I’m definitely regretting not entering that spire in the past."

"Psh, what’s there to regret about? It’s not like you could’ve reached the top like Dawnbringer did. You’d be lucky if you reached the True Dragons and miraculous if you survived the first floor of The Horde."

"Hey, that’s rude!"

"But very true."

Cedric wasn’t expecting them to argue like this in front of him, but he’s in no position to complain. If anything, though, he’s comforted by this scene. It makes these councillors feel more human.

"Come on, you guys. Quit arguing; you’re embarrassing yourselves in front of our guest."

This voice was someone Cedric was more familiar with. It was Councillor Nicholas Welsh, the very same person whose spire record he just smashed.

Before arriving here, Cedric did his homework as much as he could. Although he couldn’t find many public records about the councillors, he did see some for Nicholas, so he was able to recognize his face and his voice.

He’s also the one person here who still looked relatively close to what a normal human would look like. But even there, he had some unique features of his own, such as tribal tattoos and earrings.

As for the rest of the councillors, Cedric couldn’t find much about them. Not even their faces were shown in the documents or posts he’d seen.

"Dawnbringer, the fortune you received from the spire was the result of your own hard work, and you completely deserve every single ounce of it," Nicholas stated.

"And at the same time, your bravery to face challenges and expose most of your secrets even at the cost of being hunted is admirable. You don’t strike me as someone who’s reckless and bullish, unlike someone here."

"Hey!"

"You’re level-headed, wise, cunning, and extremely talented."

"So talented."

"Yeah, very much."

"It’s like you’re the illegitimate son of the Primitive Universe."

Sigh

Nicholas could only sigh at the offhand comments of his fellow councillors before resuming his own words.

"As the Human Council, and also the main hand behind the establishment and continuation of the Heavenly Stat’s Millennial Tournament, naturally, we won’t be stingy in terms of rewarding you for your performance."

"Yeah. That would show bad faith. You put up one hell of a show; you even made it more exciting than we originally planned. You deserved to be rewarded for that," the councillor to Nicholas’ left added.

"So, do you have any request in mind? You can tell us, and we’ll see if we could grant it," Nicholas asked.

The place went quiet after that; it’s clear that they’re waiting for Cedric to say something.

His question stumped Cedric for a bit. He wasn’t expecting them to give him an option. He thought that they would just give him something extravagant, and he’d move on.

The freedom to choose got him thinking for a bit. And fortunately for him, the councillors didn’t pressure him to make a decision right away. It probably wouldn’t even matter for them if he were to take days or weeks thinking about what he could request from them since time isn’t really as pressing for them as it is for others.

Of course, Cedric wouldn’t dare to abuse their free time. He didn’t want to waste their precious time; they were, after all, the Human Council. Their time was extremely precious.

"I would like to move my home to somewhere safe and have some people guarding it if possible."

Silence followed that request.

The councillors looked at each other with mild surprise. They initially assumed that Cedric would request something personal, something along the lines of being the successor to one of them, an opportunity for further evolution, a deeper comprehension of laws, maybe an artifact or a weapon, etc.

But instead, he requested something like this. A place for his home and people.

"That’s it?" One of the councillors asked. "You must know that you only get one chance to make a request. This option isn’t even available to anybody else. It’s an exception we agreed upon because it’s you. Are you sure that you want to use it for the sake of others?"

"They’re my people, Your Excellency," Cedric replied calmly. "And as it stands, I’m their only hope. I left my home with hopes of searching for an opportunity to save it from a very dangerous state."

"I’m already fortunate enough. I have wealth, talent, and youth. I know that if I set my mind onto it, I can achieve so much more than what I already have. I can and will search for my own opportunities to pursue the peak of life evolution. I can be whoever or whatever I want."

"But the same cannot be said for my home and my people."

"I came from the Dark Star Sector, more specifically, inside the Forbidden Zone."

"What!?" The councillors were shocked.

Their surprise was understandable. They were the Human Council; of course they know where the Forbidden Zone is. Obviously they also knew what kind of place it was and how it came to be. And it’s precisely because they knew that they’re shocked.

"How? That place is hostile to all life. Nobody should be able to get out of it...okay, you’re here and you don’t seem to be lying, so I guess there are exceptions. But you’re saying that there are more people in there? Humans? For real?"

"Humans and more..." Cedric trailed off, smiling wryly.

"The truth is, we were products of an experiment," he revealed. "From what I learned, we were supposed to be someone’s personal universe, like how Universe Masters would nurture their own, like I could now."

"Our conception was for the purpose of allowing him to understand the deeper meaning behind the laws of life and death, possibly reincarnation or samsara, too."

"For that purpose, he grafted human genes and collected samples of other races too. Then he built a home for us, and like cultured specimens, he left an overseer who will monitor and record the experiments so that he could benefit."

"I don’t know how, but somehow, we ended up inside the Forbidden Zone. I also don’t know where that person is. I asked the servant he left to manage us after subduing it, but even that servant doesn’t know where that person is. The last time that person made contact with the servant was about a million years ago."

"But because we just experiment, we can’t really be considered as Humans of the Primitive Universe. We are severely lacking and disconnected from this reality. Even the sheer exposure to this place could be dangerous for us."

"I can solve that problem on my own. And I now have the power to take them out of there. So my only concern is to find a new location for us to settle into."

"I really don’t want to leave them inside the forbidden zone any longer than necessary because, having come out of them myself, I know how dangerous and unstable the forbidden zone is."

"Like I said, I’m fine on my own. It’s my people that I’m concerned for, so if you could grant us a place to settle down in, one that is safe and secured to alleviate my concerns, then I’d be extremely grateful."

"..."

"..."

"It’s Odin, isn’t it?"