“Only one person did that?!!” I had to admit, what he said was simply unbelievable.

Yet when I thought about myself, and what I was doing for my race, I couldn’t say this was totally impossible.

“She… Was a legendary figure, one who seemed to look further beyond the limits of our minds and imagination,” he sighed again before adding, “she gave us all these blessings and gifts, led our race in harsh times to come on top of all the races of the universe, even the strongest ones!”

“So… This betrayal thing…”

“It’s just a made up fake rumour told by our dreadful rivals and enemies, the Toranks,” he paused, and it seemed the look on my face told him I didn’t buy his silly story.

“Lord, our hero did many things including researching the other universe’s energy. It was in ancient times, where knowledge about that universe was still vague and mysterious.”

“And?”

“Thanks to her contributions, what all races here enjoy as a chance to step into the cultivation world came from what she discovered,” he said of such shocking news, “lord can check it easily. You can just open your profile, check your cultivation, and then click for the credit page. You’ll see the name of her and her race glowing in glory for eternity there.”

I didn’t buy what he said. Yet when I did as he asked, I found a name there with the credit given for her contributions to discover many secrets about the hostile universe, allowing the system to implement this knowledge into our universe.

And next to her name, the name of a race was… Hescos!

“Lord… I know this might seem impossible to believe, but our hero wasn’t a traitor! She never was! She did great things, made many contributions for our universe, and ended up dying at the hands of those dirty people from the other universe in one of the great wars that hit our people.”

“…” Well, I had to admit, hearing just one side of the story was always wrong.

But that also didn’t convince me of their innocence. I was quite sure the Toranks kept their eyes over these Hescos for a long time already, investigating everything about them.

The Hescos’ ancient hero might be really a prodigy, an anomaly just like myself. But she could also be a traitor, and this was easier to believe than to be honest.

“I know there is tons of wrong info about our race, but that can’t be helped. Any great tree will always be the target of those down below. And we are enduring rocks falling on us from all directions.”

“That won’t change anything,” I sighed, “I can’t confirm the truth of this as it happened a long time ago and I lack all information about it. Also your race is quite brutal and cheating!”

“You don’t mean the apocalypse trial? Come on!” Oglak shook his head as if this was some form of misunderstanding, “we are playing by the rules. What’s wrong with that?”

“Nothing! It’s just your play that affects me and my race’s future, so it has to stop at my trial,” I didn’t get fooled with what he said. His race being innocent or not had no relation to their dirty methods in the apocalypse trials.

If I didn’t do what I was doing now, taking such great risks, then things would have been nice for me and my race. At least I’d have lots of free time to compete at my apocalypse and rule over the entire planet.

“Weak ones don’t have a say in what mighty powers decide.”

“But this time you hit another powerful one, not just a weak lord,” I met his arrogant words with another. “Now your people shall show me respect. Then we will start our work.”

“What work?” He seemed to have the wrong idea here.

What old Gan was doing was something extra. The real work would start from now on.

“You will all get arranged into a few thousands, each group will fight against my people,” I paused before seriously adding, “you’ll also select a few capable ones to teach my forces how to deal with yours.”

“This…”

“You’ll spill out all the secrets you got. I also will take those bunch of thousand leaders, the strongest and finest, and let them lead my forces at the training grounds.”

“You… Want us to lead armies?!!” This came as another surprise for him.

“Don’t take me wrong, I may be going against Hescos, but I also have lots of powerful races fighting in my world. For example Hectors are here, Dragons and Selvators as well.”

“This… What the heck is wrong with you?!! Going against two of the big races at one go?”

“Believe it or not, I never intended it this way,” I was honest, “but I take what comes at me with a big smile and a hard fist. But it’s better to have a sharp sword instead of a bare fist, right?”

“Yet… Facing all these… Are you insane?”

“Hahahaha! Consider me one then, hahahaha!” I liked his shock and doubt from what I said.

Of course the enemies weren’t easy to handle, weren’t few even. I was going all out this time to make sure to win it all.

The thought of losing never crossed my mind. What would be the worst thing that’d happen? I’d lose against Hescos in many worlds? Lose parts of my kingdom?

It wasn’t that bad. Comparing it to losing everything I got so far when the trial would be over was really nothing.

Even if it looked like madness, it was the most logical and profitable approach in my eyes.

“Go down there and start arranging your people after they finish saluting me,” I shifted my eyes towards the ground. These Hescos seemed to have trouble accepting bowing their heads and kneeling to someone like me.

“Ok, lord,” Oglak turned around and left. Yet before he’d fly away, I shouted from behind:

“Finish all this and come to my side. You are going to be one of my trusted generals and friends.”

“…”