Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"Everyone, allow us to divert your attention to Dawnbringer for a moment." Paul's words rang through the screens as the display changed and focused on the man he wanted to have the spotlight.

The live broadcast did not display Dawnbringer's perspective. They saw him arriving at the clockwork and steampunk-like world; it's like he trespassed into a machine factory.

Here, they also saw the human-shaped and sized toy rising to life. Its movements were stiff, its joints emitted crisp pops, and it twitched strangely.

"Ladies and gentlemen, what you're seeing right now is something called a Mechanoid. They're yet another marvel of the Primitive Universe," Paul introduced.

The screen then parted and displayed a diagram that displayed the interior mechanisms of Mechanoids.

"As you can see from this diagram, no part of this mechanoid was made of flesh; they mostly consist of metals that have been bestowed with the breath of life. Take a closer look at this, right here."

Paul then pointed at the core of the mechanoid. It's a small orb that emits light and has beautiful grain patterns on its surface. It pulsed with vitality and was kept in perpetual motion within the mechanoid's body.

"This is the core of the Mechanoids. They call it the Mecca Heart. This is the source of their life, consciousness, and intelligence. So long as it exists, the Mechanoid will not die even if their shell were to be destroyed."

"The Mecca Heart doesn't just keep a mechanoid alive; it also has the power to convert any materials around itself to become the shell protecting it. While mechanoids do indeed prefer rare and precious metals to comprise their shell and body, that doesn't mean that they're limited to it."

"The Mecca Heart can convert even the most ordinary and mundane metal into a rare and precious one so long as they're given time to do so. If that's not available, they can also use earth, stone, wood...basically, they can convert biomass into their preferred shells if they don't have many options left. They could also use human flesh should they need it, but they tend to disdain using it and would only do so if they're truly out of options."

"Mechanoids are also intelligent. They have access to something called the Ancestral Database—a list that's being updated and preserved by every mechanoid alive. They can use it as a reference to improve themselves and become stronger through their unique evolution path."

"Through this database, Mechanoids can easily access information that their kin compiled since ancient times, and they're updated to the present. It's essentially a cheat code since all they need to do is to follow instructions to basically guarantee a successful evolution."

Paul's exposition of how the Mechanoid Race works sparked an outrage in the audience.

Most of them instantly branded the Mechanoids as cheaters.

Having access to a compilation of information collected and verified by your kind 24/7 was practically having everything served to them on a silver platter. Seriously, how busted is that?

But that's also weird because if evolution was that easy for them, how come they aren't commonly seen in this chaos realm? Why are they only hearing about them now?

"We know that most of you are shocked by this and that you probably have a lot of questions." Lisa continued the exposition this time. "Let me just say that there is a certain balance to everything. And while the Mechanoid Race seems to have everything prepared for them, there is a good reason why they are a rare sight in our chaos realm."

"First of all, having access to information doesn't mean having a smooth evolution."

"The Mechanoids are a prideful race. They are in a constant search for materials to build their perfect version of shell and body. Sometimes, their ambition forces them to plunder from their own kin, sparking conflicts that could be deadly and destructive to everyone involved."

"Number two, not all information in the Ancestral Database is free. Some of it is locked behind a paywall or a trade agreement. Sometimes, it requires one to reach a certain level of evolution before they're allowed access to more."

"From here, it could easily be seen that searching through the sea of information for personal use could also become a gamble too. Sometimes, the ones that have the information needed ask for a price more than double the worth of that information. This could even unknowingly force some to sign a slave contract if they're not careful."

"As you can see, the Mechanoids can also be devious to their own kind. Most of them are fueled with nothing but their ambitions and desires; anybody who barred their pursuit of ultimate evolution was an enemy, even their own kin."

"And last but definitely not least, information doesn't translate to raw materials, time, and absolute security."

"The evolution of the mechanoids requires obscene amounts of materials, a considerable period of time, and a safe environment. Every aspect must be fulfilled, or else their chances of evolving according to their desires would drop sharply."

"It's because of these reasons that, as blessed as they are as a race and as terrifying as their potential could become, they are a rare sight in our chaos realm."

"The majority of the Mechanoids could actually be found on the closest chaos realm to us, which is the Disaster Heaven Chaos Realm."

"Besides, we have tools to identify and locate Mechanoids that infiltrate our chaos realm."

"The Mechanoids aren't really a hostile race to us. In fact, we could be considered as business partners. We are even allowing some of them to stay in our Chaos Realm so long as they swear an oath that they won't do anything to harm us."

"It's because of this that we know a lot about them," Lisa concluded.

Her explanation clarified many things to the audience.

Now, it made sense. The universe indeed has a way of balancing things out. Data is data, not materials. There are a lot of variables that needed to be considered in one's evolution; nobody was exempt from that, human or mechanoid alike.

**

At the secret realm where the council gathered to watch the broadcast, they too listened to Paul and Lisa's exposition about the Mechanoids.

One of them snorted and said, "Psh. Yeah, right, we only allowed them in because they paid a lot for their stay."

"Yeah. We don't force them to swear an oath. They do on their own as if it's some kind of an unsaid rule to get their permits."

"Speaking of which, how are our neighbors doing? Last time I checked, I heard that their database had been hacked. Whatever happened to that?"

"It wasn't hacked, technically," Nicholas stated with a strange expression. "Instead, what happened was somebody figured out a way to leave a virus on the database that threatens to collapse it from the inside."

"Okay, that's worse! What the hell? Who and how?"

"It was someone who got scammed and had been turned into a slave. That slave bore a great grudge and, apparently, had been hatching this plan for centuries while keeping his head down."

"When he made his move, the entirety of the Disaster Heaven Chaos Realm was alarmed. A lot of Mechanoids went rogue, acting like the ones that Dawnbringer now faces."

"The one who suffered the most was the master of that slave. I don't know the details, but I can imagine how bad his ending will be."

"The virus was discovered eventually. Getting rid of it, however, was another matter entirely. They managed to limit the reach of the virus last I heard, but it's still there and still mutating." Nicholas concluded his explanation here.

"Ah, so that's why we're seeing a lot of them recently. These ones must be fleeing from the virus."

"Well, distance won't really help them. The virus is in their Ancestral Database, so as long as they keep accessing it, they will always risk being infected. It doesn't really matter how far they run."

"Well, we don't have to tell them that." One of the councillors smirked. "I mean, they're paying us handsomely for a temporary residence; why turn them away? Actually, I'd say we let more in. Our men should be able to handle them."

"That's nice and all, but I don't want to risk it too much." Nicholas shook his head. "Remember, they can update the information on their database at any given moment. They could even make it so that their information was free for everybody to access."

"If one had an idea to jot down everything they see in our home, another one will do the same. Soon, they will have an entire section of compiled information about our chaos realm. That would be bad for us."

"Oh, yeah. I didn't consider that angle. Good catch."

"Is that why you limited their access and travel routes?"

"Yeah." Nicholas nodded. "Since all they wanted was some temporary shelter, that's what they'll receive, nothing more. I won't let them get more access to important areas even if they were to pay more. It's better to be safe than sorry."