Endless Horde: Through the Eyes of a Godking

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"The bank will always be your main backing," Philip stated. "With your status, they wouldn't restrict your movements or activities, so long as it doesn't pose a risk to your safety or their reputation."

"Besides, who says that you can only have one sponsor?"

Philip was right. The bank indeed won't prevent Cedric from doing what he wants so long as it doesn't pose a risk to his safety or their reputation. Working with Philip wasn't really a problem. Because even with Philip's strength, he's just a slightly bigger ant in front of the giant that is the Golden Bangle Bank.

Cedric understood that all Philip wanted was exposure. He doesn't even need to endorse his connection with Philip's company; he just needs to exist and join the tournament. If he performs well, people will get curious and do their homework on their own. He really doesn't need to do anything else, and that's exactly what Philip was banking on; that's why he's confident that the bank wouldn't sanction him for this collaboration.

"Well, if that's all, then I don't see why not." Cedric nodded eventually. He didn't see any reason to refuse.

By all means, this was Philip just giving him free resources basically for free. Even if his gifts wouldn't amount to much compared to what the Architect left for him, how can he refuse?

"Great! Awesome!" Philip laughed and extended a hand to him, formalizing their collaboration with a handshake.

"I'll send you the contract later. You can have the bank look at it for an extra measure of security. If there's anything in there that's not agreeable with you, please don't hesitate to tell me; I believe we can work something out. If it satisfies you, though, just send me a signed copy and I'll do the rest. All you need to do is to do what you want when the tournament begins."

"I understand. Here's to pleasant cooperation." Cedric raised a toast to him.

"Cheers to that." Philip clinked his glass against his, and they both downed their drinks.

Just like that, their collaboration was arranged in all but papers.

Cedric stayed long enough to share a little talk with Philip. Their topic veered off the tournament and their collaboration, going into other areas such as Philip's goal for building his company, his experiences travelling the Heavenly Star Chaos Realm, and so on.

Here, Cedric learned that aside from being a natural genius when it comes to life evolution, Philip was a philanthropist. He was born into a wealthy background, and money has never been a problem for him.

Sure, in terms of status, Philip couldn't compare to Cedric, who's a Scarlet VIP of the Golden Bangle Bank. Not everybody could match this kind of background, after all. But even so, Philip wasn't too bad.

His cruise was famous across the entire chaos realm, and because of the services he offered, he's got connections spanning everywhere. His network was something that Cedric couldn't possibly compare to. This was Philip's pride and joy.

In exchange, Cedric didn't reveal much about himself. He deliberately concealed his more sensitive information, feeding Philip white lies whenever he could. He doesn't know whether the man figured him out or not, but since he wasn't called out for it, he assumed it was fine.

Cedric had every reason to hide his background. He didn't want a man like Philip to ruin his plans. He couldn't be too careless since he's treading on unknown and dangerous lands by himself.

Eventually, Cedric excused himself. But not before being informed that from this point onwards, this very area that they're in was open for him. Meaning that he could go here anytime he wants. The staff won't stop him anymore.

He thanked him for that and returned to his residence, welcomed by his bodyguards.

Upon returning, Cedric rested on the couch, his thoughts churning about the meeting, reviewing every detail of their conversation to see if there were some things he missed or if he exposed too much.

Overall, he didn't perform too badly in his opinion. He kept things brief and professional for the most part. His omission of his personal information shouldn't be a huge issue with Philip.

Ding!

A ping pulled him back to reality. It came from the system. He was alerted of a new message on his personal e-mail, and when he opened it, it was indeed the contract he was expecting from Philip.

Of course, he analyzed it. He read every single clause to make sure that he wouldn't accidentally sell his soul. He even employed the bank's services and hired a lawyer to analyze this contract with him. He went to the virtual world for this, and to his relief, Philip wasn't trying to scam him.

The contract was clean and very professional; even the expert lawyer he hired couldn't find any loopholes in it. They even swore to the honor and reputation of the bank that this contract was indeed clean.

And so, Cedric signed it with the lawyer's witness and sent a copy of it back to Philip.

Not even an hour later, he already received his signing bonus from Philip. It's a bunch of resources that could aid in his training. They weren't much by Cedric's standards; he had seen what a real treasury looks like via the stash the architect left for him to inherit. But it's still a nice gesture nonetheless.

The contract stated that he will get these packages at the start of each month, and this was just the appetizer. Once the tournament begins, Philip will send more. And the better he performed, the more he'd get from him.

Of course, it's stated that Cedric won't be pressured into doing anything he doesn't want to do. The bonuses were conditional, and not getting them wouldn't void the contract or violate it in any way.

Cedric thanked him for the gift and left it there. He saw no reason to deepen this connection just yet, so he'd return to his usual gig.

It wouldn't be too late to decide the rest once the tournament begins, anyway.

**

While Cedric analyzed his and Philip's behavior during their talk, Philip was also doing the same.

Truthfully, he wasn't expecting a Scarlet VIP like him to be this easy to talk to.

Even though Philip had been observing this client for a while and knew that he was different from the weird and entitled VIPs, it's still refreshing to experience his behavior in person.

Not once did Cedric posture to throw his weight around. He spoke and felt like a person. Guarded, yes, but that's to be expected. So what if he didn't reveal too much? It doesn't make him any less pleasant to work with.

Had this been any other VIP, Philips would've prepared to fight tooth and nail for a collaboration. They would certainly squeeze him out of every little bit of benefit they could get from him, wringing him completely dry if necessary before they even reluctantly agree. To combat that, Philip would've had to enforce a tricky and sinister agreement for them to sign on to save himself.

Scenarios like that were always stressful. He never liked them, and oftentimes he'd end up offending people because of it.

Don't get it twisted; Philip has never been afraid of offending people. He's got connections everywhere. And by that, he meant 'EVERYWHERE.' His network expands even to other chaos realms.

He's not even afraid of Scarlet VIPs like Cedric.

But if he could help it, he wouldn't really want to sour his relationship with people. After all, he treats everybody as his customers. It's in his nature as a businessman.

That's why it's so refreshing to talk to Cedric, because the man didn't posture around him. He was straightforward and decisive. Very intelligent and pleasant to talk to as well.

He's the kind of person many other VIPs are trying to imitate but will always fail to do so.

Philip didn't mind that Cedric was a very private person. In fact, who isn't? It's only normal for him to act like so, especially since this was their first time meeting in person.

He'd be more surprised if Cedric deliberately told him everything about himself at their first meeting, because that either means that he's lying or an idiot. Both were alarming for a Scarlet VIP like him.

'Now, I just have to wait for the tournament to begin,' Philip mused to himself.

He's already anticipating how Cedric would surprise him. Because as much as he tried to hide it, Cedric could never hide the thrumming strength and thirst for challenge from Philip, which was one of the main reasons why he wanted to sponsor him in the first place.

Cedric will aim high, Philip was certain of it. He might behave humbly in front of him, but Philip knows that in combat, Cedric couldn't possibly be a pushover.

And with him included in the team, Philip could already see how booming his business would be after the tournament.

'Ah, this isn't good. I'm too excited. I spend all of these excess emotions, or else I'd do something stupid.' Philip shook his head and began walking to the red light district within the cruise.